Chioma is certain that Hope, the infant boy she carries in her arms, is her son. After eight years of unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant, she regards him as her miracle child.
“I’m the owner of my baby,” she defiantly states.
She is sitting next to her husband, Ike, in the office of a Nigerian state official, who has spent the better part of an hour grilling the pair.
Ify Obinabo, the commissioner for women’s affairs and social welfare in Anambra state, has plenty of experience handling family issues, but this isn’t your typical disagreement.
Five members of Ike’s family, who are also present in the room, do not think Hope is the couple’s biological kid, as Chioma and Ike insist.
Chioma claims to have “carried” the child for approximately 15 months. The commissioner and Ike’s family are shocked by the ridiculousness of the assertion.
Chioma claims she was under pressure from Ike’s family to conceive. They even suggested he marry another woman.
In her desperation, she went to a “clinic” that offered an unusual “treatment” – an outrageous and horrifying fraud that targets women anxious to become mothers and involves baby trafficking.
Authorities permitted the BBC to attend the commissioner’s meeting with Chioma as part of our investigation into the enigmatic pregnancy fraud.
We have altered the identities of Chioma, Ike, and others in this piece to protect them from repercussions in their communities.
‘Pregnant’ for 15 Months: Inside the ‘Miracle’ pregnancy scam
State Commissioner Ify Obinabo, dressed in a brown outfit with gold embroidery, listens to Chioma’s explanation of what transpired. Chioma’s back is in the foreground and out of focus.
State Commissioner Ify Obinabo is attempting to crack down on the swindle.
Nigeria has one of the world’s highest birth rates, and women are frequently subjected to social pressure to conceive, as well as ostracism or maltreatment if they do not.
Under this pressure, some women go to extraordinary lengths to realize their desire of motherhood.
For more than a year, BBC Africa Eye has been investigating the “cryptic pregnancy” hoax.
Scammers acting as doctors or nurses convince women that they have a “miracle fertility treatment” that will make them pregnant. The initial “treatment” typically costs hundreds of dollars and includes an injection, a drink, or a chemical placed into the vagina.
None of the women or officials we spoke with during our inquiry knew for certain what was in these medications. However, several women have told us that they caused physical changes in their bodies, such as bloated tummies, which confirmed their pregnancy.
Women receiving the “treatment” are advised not to visit any regular doctors or hospitals because no scan or pregnancy test can detect “the baby,” which the scammers claim is growing outside the womb.
When it is time to “deliver” the baby, ladies are told that labor will not begin unless they are induced using a “rare and expensive drug,” which requires further money.
Accounts of the “delivery” differ, but they are all unpleasant. Some are anesthetized only to awaken with a Caesarean-style incision mark. Others claim they are given an injection that produces drowsiness and hallucinations, leading them to assume they are giving birth.
In either case, the ladies end up with the infants they were supposed to give birth to.
Chioma tells Commissioner Obinabo that when it was time to “deliver,” the so-called doctor shot her in the waist and instructed her to push. She does not explain how she came to have Hope, but she does indicate the delivery was “painful”.
“Dr Ruth” sits in the dark, lighted by torchlight and wearing a white trouser suit.
“Dr Ruth” conducts a bogus pregnancy clinic in the state of Anambra.
Our crew infiltrates one of these hidden “clinics” by acting as a couple attempting to conceive for eight years and connecting with a woman known as “Dr Ruth” to her clients.
Every second Saturday of the month, this so-called “Dr Ruth” runs her clinic in a rundown motel in Ihiala, south-east Anambra state. Outside her room, scores of ladies await her in the hotel corridors, some with clearly enlarged stomachs.
The entire atmosphere exudes cheerfulness. Huge celebrations erupt inside the room when a woman is told she is pregnant.
When it is our undercover reporters’ time to visit her, “Dr Ruth” assures them that the treatment is guaranteed to work.
She offers the woman an injection, stating it will allow the pair to “select” the sex of their future baby, which is medically impossible.
After they decline the injection, “Dr Ruth” hands them a packet of crushed tablets, as well as some additional pills to take at home, along with instructions on when to have intercourse.
The initial treatment costs 350,000 naira ($205 or £165).
Our undercover reporter does not take the medications or follow any of “Dr Ruth’s” directions, and he returns to visit her four weeks later.
After running an ultrasound scanner across our reporter’s stomach, “Dr Ruth” hears a heartbeat and congratulates her on her pregnancy.
They both exclaim with excitement.
After delivering the happy news, “Dr Ruth” explains how they’ll need to pay for a “scarce” and expensive medicine required for the baby’s birth, which costs between 1.5 and two million naira ($1,180; £945).
Without this medicine, the pregnancy may last more than nine months, “Dr Ruth” asserts, adding, “The baby will become malnourished – we’d need to build it up again.”
“Dr Ruth” has not reacted to the BBC’s allegations.
Women in brilliantly coloured, extravagant clothes stand waiting in a corridor.
Dozens of women waited to see “Dr. Ruth”
The extent to which the ladies involved truly believe the claims is uncertain.
However, evidence as to why individuals would be vulnerable to such brazen claims can be found in online groups where misinformation about pregnancy is common.
A network of Disinformation.
Cryptic pregnancy is a medical condition in which a woman is unaware of her pregnancy until the late stages.
However, throughout our investigation, the BBC discovered widespread disinformation in Facebook groups and pages concerning this sort of pregnancy.
One woman from the United States, who devotes her entire page to her “cryptic pregnancy,” claims to have been pregnant “for years” and that her experience cannot be explained scientifically.
In restricted Facebook groups, several posters utilize religious terms to praise the fake “treatment” as a “miracle” for people who have been unable to conceive.
All of this misinformation reinforces women’s belief in the hoax.
These groupings include members from Nigeria, South Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States.
Scammers occasionally administer and post in these communities, allowing them to contact ladies who are interested in the “treatment”.
When someone displays a willingness to begin the fraud process, they are invited to more secure WhatsApp groups. There, administrators discuss “cryptic clinics” and the procedures involved.
‘I am still bewildered.’
According to authorities, the scammers require newborn newborns to finish the “treatment” and seek out desperate and vulnerable women, many of whom are young and pregnant in a country where abortion is prohibited.
In February 2024, the Anambra State Health Ministry raided the location where Chioma “delivered” Hope.
The BBC received footage of the raid, which revealed a massive complex consisting of two buildings.
One chamber contained medical equipment that appeared to be for clients, while the other housed several pregnant women who were being held against their will. Some were as young as seventeen.
Some claim they were misled into traveling there, unaware that their infants would be sold to the scammer’s clients.
Others, such as Uju (not her real name), were too terrified to inform their families they were pregnant and sought an alternative. She stated that she was paid 800,000 naira ($470; £380) for the baby.
When asked if she regrets selling her baby, she replied, “I’m still confused.”
Commissioner Obinabo, who has been involved in efforts to combat the scam in her state, said that scammers target vulnerable women like Uju to source the babies.
A baby boy is carried in its mother’s arms.
Uju would have sold her kid if authorities hadn’t saved her.
Following a difficult interview, Commissioner Obinabo threatens to take baby Hope away from Chioma.
But Chioma pleads her case, and the commissioner eventually accepts her argument that she is a victim herself and had no idea what was going on.
On this basis, she authorizes Chioma and Ike to retain the kid unless his biological parents come forward to claim him.
However, unless attitudes toward women, infertility, reproductive rights, and adoption change, schemes like this will continue to thrive, experts warn.
