By Farooq Kperogi
Sometime last year, someone who identified herself as Halima Tahir (although I now suspect it’s a man who colluded with a woman) contacted me to request help paying her tuition fees.
She claimed to be a student in the Department of Microbiology at Bayero University in Kano who had lost her father in 2024 and was struggling to continue her studies. I helped her.
A few months later, she reached out again with another request related to school expenses, which I also obliged.
But several red flags caused lingering doubts about her identity. Her initial email to me in 2025 carried the name “Ishmael Sani” as the display name, even though the content of the email itself identified the sender as Halima Tahir.
Within minutes, she sent another email with the same content but with “Halima Tahir” as the display name. Both Ishmael Sani and Halima Tahir used the same email address: [email protected]
When I confronted “Halima Tahir” about this, she offered an explanation for the discrepancy, although I no longer recall what it was.
To convince me she was genuine, she sent a screenshot of an invoice that showed how much she supposedly owed Bayero University in tuition fees. The invoice had the name “Halima Tahir” on it.
However, the name on the Zenith Bank account she provided, number 2126100907, was “Halima Dahiru.” Because Dahiru is often used as a variant spelling or pronunciation of Tahir in northern Nigeria, I dismissed the discrepancy.
A few days ago, she contacted me again with another request. But something about the message immediately struck me as odd. Her email still said she was in 300 level. She had already told me she was in 300 level during the 2024/2025 academic session.
By now she should be in her final year. At that point, I knew something was wrong.
That was why I asked to be connected with students or lecturers in Bayero University’s Department of Microbiology here on Facebook.
A professor I contacted, who happens to be the 300 level coordinator, told me there is no student by the name of Halima Tahir in the department, either in the 2024/2025 session or now.
He also pointed out that the invoice the scammer sent me was fake. Among other red flags, he said, the scammer listed “Faculty of Science” instead of the correct “Faculty of Life Sciences.”
I am not wealthy, but over the years I have quietly helped many genuine students across the country whom I do not know and will probably never meet. I do it because I know what it means to struggle and to lack.
Unfortunately, a few people have taken advantage of that willingness to help and have tried to scam me. I know I am not the only one this happens to.
I am sharing this not to discourage helping students in need but to remind people to be cautious and vigilant.
