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The Scam Teardown & Family Warning Brief

The capstone project for Crypto & Forex: Literacy and Scam Protection — a free Finance course. Pass it and you earn a certificate anyone can verify.

Start the course free Download the project workbook

The project unlocks once you complete the lessons. The workbook is free to download now so you can see exactly what is expected.

What you will submit

A shared Google Drive folder containing (1) a spreadsheet showing the compounded-promise or cost-drag calculation with visible formulas and stated assumptions, and (2) a document holding the captured evidence, the completed and dated verification table, the 'who would have to be registered, and with whom' section with its check-current-guidance note, a 600–900 word scam teardown carrying a not-financial-advice line, and a one-page family warning brief with correct reporting steps.

What to do, step by step

  1. 1. Find ONE real crypto or forex offer currently circulating among Nigerians — a WhatsApp or Telegram broadcast, an Instagram or Facebook ad, a 'signals'/'account manager' pitch, or an 'investment platform' website. Capture the evidence into a Google Doc: screenshots, the exact promised return, the minimum deposit, the platform or company name, and where and when you found it. SAFETY RULES: send no money, deposit nothing, install no APK, do not engage the operator, and mask any private individual's phone number or face before you submit.
  2. 2. Run the Lesson 6 verification checklist and record every result in a dated table, including the ones that come back empty: legal entity name; claimed licence or registration number; what you found when you searched that number on sec.gov.ng, on the CAC public search, or on the named foreign regulator's OWN register (type each regulator's address by hand, never click a link from the offer); whether the name appears on any SEC or EFCC public warning list; domain registration date from any free WHOIS lookup; what an independent search for '<name> scam' and '<name> withdrawal' returns; who physically holds the money; and the exact stated route to withdraw it. Note the date you checked, since registers are updated constantly.
  3. 3. Add a short 'Who would have to be registered, and with whom?' section using Lesson 7: name which Nigerian authority this offer would have to answer to for what it claims to do — the SEC for taking investments, advising for a fee or managing money and for virtual-asset services; the CBN for dealing in foreign exchange; SCUML and the NFIU for anti-money-laundering registration and reporting; the CAC for the company itself, noting that CAC registration is not permission to take investments — and state what evidence of any of it the operator actually shows. Hedge every statement as 'as at the time of writing' and add a line saying current requirements must be confirmed with the SEC on sec.gov.ng and the CBN on cbn.gov.ng, since these have shifted before.
  4. 4. Do the maths in a free Google Sheet with formulas visible. If it promises a return, compound it from a ₦100,000 stake over a full year (=100000*(1+rate)^periods) and state the one-year figure, then write one plain sentence on what that number implies about where the payouts must actually come from. If it is a broker or trading pitch instead, compute cost drag: spread plus commission per round trip, multiplied by the number of trades their own pitch implies per month, expressed as a percentage of a ₦300,000 account. State your assumptions in the sheet — these are illustrations of a mechanism, not predictions.
  5. 5. Write the teardown, 600–900 words, in the same doc: name which patterns from Lessons 4 and 5 it matches and why, quote the exact red-flag phrases from their own material, walk through step by step what would happen to someone who sends ₦200,000 today, and finish with an honest section titled 'What would change my mind' listing the specific evidence that would make you reassess. The teardown must contain no trading advice, no strategy and no claim that any approach is profitable, and must carry a visible line stating that your work is education and not financial or investment advice and that you are recommending no platform, coin or broker to anybody.
  6. 6. Add a ONE-PAGE warning brief for your own family WhatsApp group in plain language a secondary-school leaver can follow: five red flags, the three checks anyone can do on a phone in five minutes, the exact reporting order if someone has already paid (bank fraud desk and branch first, then EFCC petition and the police cybercrime channel, then the platform, with the SEC where an investment scheme is involved), a line telling readers to confirm current contact details and requirements on the official sites because they change, and a closing line in your own words that this is education, not financial advice. Then put the Sheet and the Doc in one Google Drive folder, set sharing to 'Anyone with the link can view', and submit that folder link.

Files to work with

Project workbook (fill in, then submit)The whole brief, an evidence checklist, the grading rubric as a self-check and the link-sharing steps in one file. Opens in Word, Google Docs or WPS.Word · 8 KB

How it is graded

CriterionWeight
Evidence and verification are complete and genuinely researched: real captured offer with source and date, legal entity and licence claims checked against the regulator's own register, warning lists, domain age, independent search results, who holds the money — plus a correct 'who would have to be registered, and with whom' section naming SEC / CBN / SCUML-NFIU / CAC appropriately, hedged as at the time of writing with an instruction to confirm current SEC and CBN guidance, and with 'not found' results honestly recorded rather than omitted30%
The compounding or cost-drag calculation is arithmetically correct, shows its formulas and assumptions, and is interpreted in one clear sentence about where the money must come from20%
The teardown accurately names the scam patterns from Lessons 4–5, quotes real red-flag language, traces the step-by-step mechanism of loss for a ₦200,000 victim, and includes a genuine 'what would change my mind' section25%
The family warning brief is usable by a non-expert: five concrete red flags, three phone-only checks, and the correct reporting order (bank first, then EFCC petition and police cybercrime channel, then the platform, with the SEC where an investment scheme is involved) with a note to confirm current details on official sites15%
Safety, ethics and non-advice discipline observed throughout: no money sent and no app installed, no private individual's personal data exposed, no trading advice, strategy or profit claim anywhere, an explicit written statement in both the teardown and the brief that the work is education rather than financial or investment advice and recommends no platform, coin or broker, no suggestion that a certificate is a licence, and a working share link10%

You need 65% overall to pass. A human examiner also reviews this safety-critical project before any certificate is issued. A failed submission comes back with feedback and can be revised and resubmitted.

Before you submit: make your link public

If your work lives in Google Drive or Google Docs, open Share → General access and change “Restricted” to “Anyone with the link” (Viewer). Then paste the link into a private browser window: if it opens without sign-in, you are ready. A private link cannot be graded — it is the single most common reason a good project fails.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to finish Crypto & Forex: Literacy and Scam Protection before submitting the project?

Yes. The submission screen opens once every lesson in Crypto & Forex: Literacy and Scam Protection is marked complete. The lessons are where the methods, the Nigerian context and the worked examples the project depends on are taught.

How is the project graded?

An examiner scores each rubric criterion from 0 to 100 and weights them as shown on this page; you need 65% overall to pass. Because this is a safety-critical trade, a human examiner also reviews every submission before a certificate is issued.

Can I resubmit if I fail?

Yes. A failed project comes back with feedback; revise the weak parts and resubmit. A passed project is final — the certificate is issued and cannot be re-rolled.

What do I actually submit?

A write-up of what you did (under 5,000 characters) plus a public link to your work — a Google Drive folder, Google Doc, spreadsheet, GitHub repository or video. The link must open without sign-in; a private link cannot be graded. The free project workbook on this page walks you through all 6 steps.

Is the certificate real?

Yes. Passing this project issues a certificate with a unique verification code. Anyone — an employer, a client, a school — can open the verification page and see that the certificate is genuine and which project earned it.

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Crypto & Forex: Literacy and Scam Protection is free and self-paced. Finish the lessons, complete this project, and the certificate is yours to share.

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