Tens of cyber fraudsters have taken over the identity of
the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah, on
the popular social networking site, Facebook.
Checks by iPUNCH on Tuesday showed that the over 30
fake Facebook accounts opened in the name of the
army chief are being used by scammers to defraud
unsuspecting members of the public. The majority of the
fraudsters correctly filled out the profile information of
Minimah, to perfect their schemes and sway their
victims who are mostly job applicants. Dangling
opportunities for enlistment into the Nigerian Army
to scores of their followers online, many of the con
artistes pledged their resolve to assist them with their
application. A message posted by one of the impostors
stated,
“Hello everyone. Did you buy the Nigerian Army form or
the Nigeria
Defence Academy form and your name was not out? Or
you have bought the form and you need help? Contact
my personal assistant to get the direct entry form on
+23480711591** or write me a message here on
Facebook.”
Many job applicants have been made to comment on
the fake Facebook accounts believing that they were
communicating with Minimah.
To hoodwink their victims into paying for the supposed
assistance to be rendered to them, many of the
scammers promised to use their slots to ensure the
enlistment of those who show some seriousness.
Besides, to fool unsuspecting fellows, some of the
fraudsters also announced their plans to conduct a
mock test and interview sessions for the applicants with
a view to ensuring that their applications were
successful.
The commandant of the Warrant Officers Academy of
the Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. Arinze Ebenebe, is also
one of the senior army officers being impersonated
online. Laying claim to his name to perpetrate
fraudulent activities, the scammers simply used the
recently-concluded Nigerian
Army Recruitment as a bait to dupe their victims. The
fraudster, in a message posted on the fake account
wrote,
“So Many Nigerian youths have been applying for
enlistment in the Nigerian Army and have been turned
down in the past year. Our mission is to help many of
these youths into the Nigeria Armed Forces. The 72RRI
Recruitment started on Monday, September 8. Slot and
help are available. Call 080335212**.”
But the Nigerian army authorities have said that it was
not unaware of the activities of the fraudsters. The
army headquarters warned members of the public
against patronising the fraudsters, noting that it does
not carry out its recruitment exercise via Facebook.
Stating that it amounted to a criminal offence to
impersonate a general under any guise, the army wrote
on its Twitter page that it had obtained some of the
contact numbers of the scammers.
“The Nigerian Army wishes to notify the public of the
activities of fraudsters using some Facebook accounts
and the following phone numbers: 081479812**,
081479812**. Members of the general public and
Internet surfers should be wary of these fraudsters
portraying themselves as army generals. Cyber crime is
an offence. Be warned,” the army tweeted. The Nigerian
Navy has also raised the alarm over those it...click to read more-
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