A disturbing pregnancy scam exploiting desperate women to conceive was recently brought to light by an investigation, carried out by BBC Africa Eye.
A shocking fertility Scam in Nigeria has been exposed, in which illegal clinics exploit vulnerable women through false pregnancies and baby trafficking.
In the Anambra State of Nigeria, scammers posing as doctors are duping women into false pregnancies.
Nigeria is a country having, one of the highest birth rates globally. Women who are unable to conceive have to face a lot of societal pressure to get pregnant.
To escape from the stigma of infertility, turn to such desperate measures.
During the investigation, when BBC investigators went undercover as a couple seeking fertility treatments. They found fertility clinics with fake doctors who were offering in getting them pregnant, some peculiar treatments while charging a hefty amount.
After the treatment, their stomachs would swell up and they are told that they were pregnant.
The fraud doctors would warn them not to visit any hospital or conventional doctors and do checkups like sonograms.
One of the women claimed to have carried the child for almost 15 months.
During the time of delivery, the women are being are told that they will start, once the drug (rare and costly) is induced in them.
After the couple pays the money the women are sedated and when they wake up, they have Caesarean-like incision marks on their bodies.
Some even said that if they are given an injection that causes a hallucinatory state they believe they are giving birth.
In both ways, the women end up with babies that they have supposedly delivered.
This scam has been linked to the baby trafficking networks by the authorities.
When the health authorities raided one such clinic, they found many pregnant women who were held against their will. Some of the women were as young as 17 years old.
According to a report, the scammers get babies from vulnerable women who are generally young and pregnant and trick them into giving up their babies.
Their babies would then be given to the supposedly pregnant women as their children.
