How to Avoid Getting Scammed by a Web Developer in Nigeria

If you have been in Nigerian business circles long enough, you have heard this story.

Someone pays a developer to build their website. They pay upfront. The developer goes quiet. Weeks pass. Then months. Either the website never gets delivered, or what gets delivered is so bad it is embarrassing to share. The money is gone. The time is gone. And now the business owner is angry, broke, and distrustful of anyone who calls themselves a web developer.

This is not a rare story in Nigeria. It happens every single day.

And the worst part is that most of the people it happens to are hardworking business owners who just wanted to take their business online. They were not naive. They were not careless. They were simply not armed with the right information before they handed over their money.

This post is going to change that for you.

Why Web Developer Scams Are So Common in Nigeria

Let us start by understanding why this problem is so widespread.

The barrier to calling yourself a web developer in Nigeria is basically zero. Anyone with a laptop and a basic knowledge of WordPress can set up a portfolio, join a WhatsApp group, and start collecting deposits from business owners. There is no licensing body. There is no mandatory certification. There is nothing stopping an unqualified person from presenting themselves as a professional.

At the same time, demand for websites has exploded. Every business owner knows they need a digital presence. But many do not know enough about the process to ask the right questions or spot the warning signs before it is too late.

The result is a market flooded with people taking money for work they either cannot do, will not do, or never intended to do in the first place.

The Red Flags to Watch Before You Pay Anyone

These are the warning signs that should make you pause, ask more questions, or walk away entirely.

They have no verifiable portfolio. This is the number one red flag. If a developer cannot show you real, live websites they have built for real clients, that is a serious problem. Screenshots are easy to fake. A link to an actual working website is not. Click the links. Visit the sites. See if they actually work. If their “portfolio” is just images with no URLs, do not proceed.

They ask for full payment upfront. Legitimate agencies and developers do not ask for 100% payment before starting any work. A professional will typically ask for a deposit, usually between 30% and 50%, with the balance due upon delivery or at agreed milestones. Anyone who demands everything before touching a single line of code is waving a red flag in your face.

They cannot give you a written agreement. A serious developer or agency will have no problem putting the project scope, timeline, deliverables, and payment terms in writing. If someone resists signing any kind of agreement or says “do not worry, we are family, I will take care of you,” walk away. Trust is good. A signed agreement is better.

Their pricing is suspiciously low. We covered website pricing in a previous post. If someone is quoting you N30,000 for an e-commerce store with payment integration, that should raise questions. Either they plan to deliver something barely functional, they will disappear halfway through, or they are using stolen templates that will cause you legal problems later. Quality work costs real money. A price that seems too good to be true usually is.

They go quiet after receiving payment. This is the classic move. Before payment, they are responsive, enthusiastic, and full of promises. After payment, suddenly they are always busy, always about to send an update, always dealing with some technical issue. If communication drops significantly the moment money changes hands, that is a serious warning sign.

They cannot explain their process clearly. Ask any developer you are considering: how do you work? What are the stages of the project? How do you handle revisions? What happens if there is a problem after launch? A professional will answer these questions confidently and clearly. Someone winging it will fumble, get defensive, or give vague non-answers.

Questions You Must Ask Before Hiring Anyone

Before you sign anything or pay anything, ask these questions and pay close attention not just to the answers but to how the person responds.

Can you share links to three websites you have built recently? Not screenshots. Live links.

Can I speak to one or two of your past clients directly? A developer with nothing to hide will have no problem connecting you with happy clients who can vouch for them.

What exactly is included in this quote? Get a line by line breakdown. Design, development, number of pages, features, hosting, domain, and post-launch support should all be clearly defined.

What is the payment structure? If the answer is anything close to “pay everything now,” reconsider.

Who will own the website when it is done? This matters more than most people realise. Some developers build sites on their own hosting accounts and hold your website hostage if there is ever a disagreement. Your website files, your domain, and your hosting account should belong to you.

What happens if I need changes after the site goes live? Is there a support period? Is it included in the price or charged separately?

How long will the project take and what are the milestones? A professional will give you a timeline with specific checkpoints, not a vague “it should be done in a few weeks.”

How to Verify a Developer or Agency Before Paying

Beyond the questions, here are practical steps to verify that who you are dealing with is legitimate.

Search for them on Google. A real agency will have a website, a Google Business Profile, and some kind of online trail. If they are completely unsearchable, that tells you something.

Check their social media history. How long have they been posting? Do their pages look like a real business with genuine engagement or does it look like an account that was created last week?

Verify their testimonials. If they have client testimonials on their website, try to verify those clients are real. A LinkedIn search, a Google search of the business names mentioned, even a quick call to the businesses they claim to have worked with can save you a lot of money.

Ask for a video call before committing. Scammers often avoid face to face interaction. A legitimate agency will be happy to jump on a video call, walk you through their process, and introduce you to the team that will handle your project.

Look for a physical address. Not every agency needs a massive office, but a business that has absolutely no physical location and no verifiable address deserves extra scrutiny.

What to Do If You Have Already Been Scammed

If you have already lost money to a fraudulent developer, here is what you can do.

Report it. File a complaint with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or the Nigerian Police Force. While recovering your money can be difficult, reporting helps build a case and may protect others from the same person.

Share your experience publicly. Leave an honest review. Post about it in business groups. Name the individual or company if you have proof. The Nigerian business community runs on shared information and your experience could save someone else.

Cut your losses and start again with the right team. We know that is a painful thing to hear. But continuing to chase a bad actor while your business has no website is costing you more than the money you lost. The faster you move forward with a trustworthy team, the faster you start recovering.

What Working With a Trustworthy Agency Actually Looks Like

We want to be transparent about what the right experience should feel like, because you deserve to know what you are aiming for.

When you work with a professional agency like Teqshure, the process starts with a proper consultation, not a payment request. We take time to understand your business, your goals, and your audience before we talk about price. We give you a detailed proposal in writing that outlines exactly what we will build, when we will deliver it, and what it will cost.

Payment is structured in milestones. You see progress before you release the next payment. You own everything when the project is done, your domain, your hosting, your files. And we do not disappear after launch. We are here when you have questions, when you need updates, and when your business grows and your website needs to grow with it.

You can read exactly what our clients say about working with us directly on our website. Dr. Sofiri Peterside of the Nigerian Doctors Foundation trusted us to build a platform that represented a life-saving mission. The CEO of PackRider trusted us to build a brand that could compete at the highest level. Those are not small things. And we do not take that trust lightly.

You can also browse our portfolio and click through to the actual live websites we have built. Every link works. Every site is real. Because that is the standard.

The Bottom Line

Nigeria is full of talented, hardworking people who genuinely know how to build great websites and digital products. The problem is that the scammers have made everyone suspicious, and rightfully so.

The answer is not to avoid investing in your digital presence. The answer is to be informed, ask the right questions, and choose the people you work with carefully.

Your business deserves a digital presence that works. You deserve a team that shows up, delivers what they promised, and takes your success personally.

Do not let one bad experience, yours or someone else’s, stop you from building something great online.

If you are ready to work with a team that has nothing to hide, talk to us at Teqshure. We will walk you through our process, show you our work, answer every question you have, and earn your trust before we ask for a single kobo.

That is the Teqshure standard. And we are proud of it.