Claim: The European Union is offering grants of up to $1 million USD to businesses in African nations who have been impacted by conflict, external shocks, and economic disparities.
This is a fraudulent call for applications. The domain eudfglobal.eu is not official, conceals its ownership, and uses misleading branding to impersonate the European Union (EU).
On 21st August 2025, a Facebook account shared a post calling for proposals for grants of up to $1 million USD for small African businesses affected by conflict, external shocks, and economic disparities. The post instructed interested applicants to submit their applications through a Google Form linked in the caption. The Google Form requested information such as the applicant’s name, phone number, email address, gender, business name, type of business, and business address, among other details. Additionally, the Facebook caption included a link purportedly for more information. This link directed users to a website designed to mimic an official EU website, using the European Union logo and colour scheme.
The website promoting the offer uses the domain eudfglobal.eu, which is not an official European Union domain. Genuine EU websites always use domains ending in .europa.eu (for example, ec.europa.eu, eeas.europa.eu, and european-union.europa.eu).
Mzeziti Mwanza used the EURid website, the official registry for the .eu top-level domain (TLD) that manages domain registrations for entities within the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, to check whether the website shared in the Facebook post was owned by the EU. A search showed that the website was registered by a company called Equitable Upscale & Diversification Fund.
On the other hand, the official website that announces all EU grants and tenders was run through the EURid registry. Results revealed that the website is owned by the European Commission.
Additionally, applicants who submit details via the Google form receive responses from emails ending in @eudfglobal.eu, whereas genuine EU communication always uses the @europa.eu domain. This mismatch indicates that the operators are impersonating the EU.
Authentic EU funding opportunities are only announced through the Funding & Tenders portal:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal. The absence of this alleged grant on that platform confirms it is fraudulent.
The European Union in Zambia was contacted for a comment. Mweemba Chimunya, EU press officer for Zambia, noted that they are aware of the fraudulent call for grants and have since alerted the public on their Facebook page.
This is a fraudulent call for applications. The domain eudfglobal.eu is not official, conceals its ownership, and uses misleading branding to impersonate the European Union. By targeting vulnerable groups, including businesses in conflict-affected and economically fragile African nations, this scam risks exposing applicants to financial fraud, identity theft, and exploitation.
This fact-check was produced by Mzeziti Mwanza as part of the African Fact-checking Alliance incubation programme. It was produced with peer mentorship from Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, PesaCheck, with financial support from Norway. AFCA mentorship respects the journalistic independence of the researchers, offering access to advanced techniques and tools. The editorial decision remains with CYLA.