The investigation finds:
- Scammers convince women that they are pregnant with unknown pills and injections that induce symptoms associated with pregnancy, such as a swollen stomach.
- Often, after a gestation of over a year, a fake delivery occurs, with potentially trafficked newborn babies given to.
- The “cryptic pregnancy scam” could be fuelling an underground trade in trafficked babies. One victim was asked to sell her baby for $500
- Societal challenges, such as stigma towards infertility, reproductive rights, and attitudes towards adoption, may contribute to the scam thriving.
For over a year, BBC World Service’s investigative unit, BBC Africa Eye, has investigated an intricate “cryptic pregnancy” scam targeting women in Nigeria, which could potentially be fuelling an underground trade of babies who are suspected of having been trafficked.
Cryptic pregnancy is a recognised medical phenomenon in which a woman is unaware of her pregnancy until the late stages. But the term is being hijacked by scammers.
In Nigeria’s Miracle Baby Scammers, BBC Africa Eye has found that scammers posing as doctors or nurses convince women that they have a “miracle fertility treatment” guaranteed to get them pregnant. The initial “treatment” usually costs hundreds of dollars and consists of an injection, a drink, or a substance inserted into the vagina. None of the victims or officials the BBC spoke to know for sure what is in these drugs.
After several weeks, women are told they are pregnant. Some women said the substances led to changes in their bodies – such as swollen stomachs, which further convinced them they were pregnant.
Women given the “treatment” are warned not to visit any conventional doctors or hospitals, as no scan or pregnancy test would detect the foetus.
When it’s time to “deliver” the baby, women are told labour will only begin once they are induced with a rare and expensive drug, requiring further payment.
Accounts of how the “delivery” happens vary. Some are sedated and wake up with a Caesarean-like incision. Others say they are given an injection that causes a drowsy, hallucinatory state in which they believe they’re giving birth. Either way, the women end up with babies they are told they have given birth to.
Nigerian authorities told the BBC that to complete the “treatment”, the scammers need newborn babies, and to do that, they seek out women who are desperate and vulnerable, many of them young and pregnant.
In the investigation, BBC reporters infiltrate one of these secretive “clinics” – connecting with a woman known as “Dr Ruth” to her clients – by posing as a couple who have been trying to conceive for eight years.
“Dr Ruth” offered the couple a sachet of crushed pills as well as some more pills for them to take at home, along with instructions on when to have intercourse. The service costs 350,000 Naira (just over $200 / around £160). She also says that if the female undercover reporter takes an injection instead of the crushed substance, the couple could select the sex of their future baby.
The BBC undercover reporter didn’t take the substances or follow the instructions, yet four weeks later, at a follow-up appointment, using a device resembling an ultrasound, “Dr Ruth” told the reporter that she was pregnant.
After delivering the news, “Dr Ruth” explained that they’d need to pay for an expensive drug essential to deliver the baby, costing somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million naira ($1,000).
Without this drug, the pregnancy could extend beyond nine months, “Dr Ruth” claimed with disregard for scientific fact, adding: “The baby will become malnourished – we’d need to build it up again.”
The BBC asked “Dr Ruth” to respond to allegations made in this film but did not receive any response.
Gynaecologist Dr Kingsley in Enugu, a neighbouring state to Anambra, told the BBC that a core problem which may cause the scam to thrive is the “certainty you could go home with a baby”. He added: “In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is available, or surrogacy, or you can have a donor egg. All those things are available, but the problem is the failure rate is high. So people tend to opt for cryptic pregnancies, those that can afford it.”
The investigation highlights societal pressures, such as the stigma of infertility often carried by women, as well as issues around reproductive rights and adoption, which may cause such scams to thrive.
Nigerian BBC reporter Yemisi Adegoke said: “There’s enormous pressure to have children in Nigeria. Even with one of the highest fertility rates in the world, many couples still struggle to conceive. And when that happens, it is the women who are made to feel like failures. Ostracised, abused and brutalised in some cases, some are pushed to extremes in their quest to have a baby.”
She added: “When it comes to having children, whatever rational mind you think you have can be easily undone when there are so many people pressurising you. I have seen what that pressure can do.”
Juliet (not her real name), a victim of the cryptic pregnancy scam, tried the treatment after 11 years of trying to conceive. However, her doubts grew about the scam when her stomach didn’t expand as expected.
Disobeying the scammers’ instructions, she sought medical advice and discovered she was not pregnant. She speaks about the pressure many women like herself face, which may cause them to fall victim to the scam: “When you are desperate, as a woman, that is the worst situation you can find yourself in. Your judgement becomes clouded.”
BBC’s Global Disinformation Unit found widespread disinformation on the ‘miraculous’ scams on groups on Facebook and WhatsApp. The BBC found that anyone who expressed any doubts about the scam was immediately expelled from these groups.
In Nigeria, a deeply religious country, the documentary highlights how scammers use religious terminology to hail this bogus “treatment” as a “miracle” for those unable to conceive.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Women’s Affairs, who has been part of efforts to crack down on the scam, says scammers exploit vulnerable, pregnant women living in poverty using “agents” to convince them to sell their babies.
The BBC spoke to Uju (not her real name), a young woman rescued in a raid conducted by local authorities in Anambra State. She was about to sell her baby. She told the BBC she felt too scared to tell her family she was pregnant and sought a way out. She was offered 800,000 Naira (around $500) for the baby.
The Commissioner warned that this “cryptic pregnancy scam” is linked to trafficking. “Anyone who tells you you can have a child through this ‘cryptic pregnancy’ is a liar. You are going to be given another person’s child, a trafficked child.”
- BBC Africa News YouTube page (English) & BBC Igbo YouTube page from Monday 25 November 2024
- On BBC iPlayer (UK only)
BBC Africa Eye
