INEC has warned Nigerians against a fake voter registration portal, stressing that the 2026 Continuous Voter Registration exercise ended on July 26.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has warned Nigerians about a fake website claiming that a new online voter registration exercise is underway.
In a public notice on Saturday, the commission said the fake website announced a registration window from September 28 to October 27, 2026.
INEC identified the fraudulent site as tinyurl.com/inecnigeria-cvr-org, saying it has no affiliation with the commission.
“Members of the public are strongly advised not to click on the link or submit any personal information on the website, as doing so may expose them to the risk of having their sensitive personal data harvested or misused,” the notice posted on X reads.
“The Commission further wishes to clarify that the voter registration exercise closed on 26th July 2026. Any information suggesting that a new nationwide online voter registration exercise is currently ongoing through the above mentioned website is false.
“INEC urges the public to remain vigilant and to verify all electoral information through the Commission’s official communication channels.”
What the Fake Site Claims
The website claims to offer a “Final Phase of Nationwide Online Voter Card Registration,” including online services to update voter registration information, transfer registration to another polling unit, and replace damaged or lost permanent voter cards (PVCs). It also claims that registration and PVC delivery are free.
INEC’s genuine Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) portal, cvr.inecnigeria.org, currently displays a notice confirming the exercise has ended and that the commission is now completing administrative processing of the applications it received.
Not the First Scam of Its Kind
This is at least the second major fake voter-registration portal INEC has had to publicly disown in recent months. In July, while the genuine CVR exercise was still open, a separate viral post titled “INEC ONLINE VOTERS REGISTRATION 2026 ONGOING” circulated on WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook, directing users to a different fraudulent link and falsely claiming a registration deadline of August 17, 2026, along with promises of home delivery for PVCs.
INEC’s Deputy Director of Information and Publicity, Wilfred Ifogah, described that campaign at the time as a phishing scam designed to harvest citizens’ personal data, including biometric and residential information.
How to Verify Electoral Information
INEC advised Nigerians to remain vigilant and verify electoral information only through its official communication channels. The commission provided its call centre number, 0700-CALL-INEC (0700-2255-4632), short code 4632, phone numbers 09084444433 and 09050858629, and email address iccc@inec.gov.ng for enquiries. The public can also visit inecnigeria.org or inecnews.com for official information.
A note on sourcing: the fake URL in some reports of this notice is given as pvc-inecnigeria-org.blogspot.com, while the majority of outlets that reported INEC’s statement cite tinyurl.com/inecnigeria-cvr-org as the fraudulent link named in the commission’s own notice. This article uses the latter, more widely corroborated version readers should in any case avoid visiting either link and rely only on INEC’s official channels listed above.
