Lagos land fraud
A Certificate of Occupancy that was never real
A colour printout with a copied stamp and serial number, made to look exactly genuine.
How it works
A genuine Certificate of Occupancy is a registered government document with a record at the Lands Bureau. Fraudsters produce convincing colour copies - sometimes laminated single sheets - with copied stamps and serial numbers. To the eye they look perfect. The only way to know is to check the document against the actual government record.
Warning signs
- !A laminated single sheet instead of a registered booklet
- !The seller resists letting you verify it at Alausa
- !Serial numbers or signatures that look “off” on close inspection
- !No matching record when the number is searched
How we catch it
We confirm the C of O against the Lands Bureau’s own records - not the copy the seller hands you - and run it through a red-flag checklist (laminated single-sheet, inconsistent dates, and more) reviewed by a person, not a bot.
Verify a propertyDon’t let this happen to you.
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