Going The Extra Mile Against Illegal Recruitment Syndicate

Suspected cyber space syndicate who had been defrauding unsuspecting members of the public using the name of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has finally had their cup full after the Service went the extra mile to bring their activities to an end in the interest of unsuspecting job seekers.
Job scam has been on the increase following the rising unemployment rate in the country, thereby creating an opportunity where people, out of desperation to earn a living, easily fall for the tricks of illegal recruitment agencies.  The unusual effort made by the NCS to crack down on these suspected illegal job syndicate is commendable and one worthy of emulation by other agencies whose names are easily used to defraud innocent job seekers.
The suspected fraudsters were nabbed and paraded last week after a painstaking investigation by operatives of the NCS with support from forensic experts in the US and Canada as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).
The activities of the suspected fraudsters began after the conclusion of recruitment exercise conducted by the Service between 2009 and 2012. Long after the conclusion of these exercises, the Service continued receiving numerous complaints from applicants who claimed that they were lured into paying various sums of monies into bank accounts in the name of Nigeria Customs Service after applying online on a supposed Customs website.
Parading the suspects at the Customs Headquarters, Abuja last week, the Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Headquarters, Musa Tahir, explained that the testimonies gotten from various victims of the scam informed the need to take investigation of the case beyond conventional method associated with common crimes.
He said the use of fake websites, creation of fake Facebook accounts and high level collusion of commercial banks necessitated the use of cutting edge technology to catch up with the evil perpetrators. “The Service therefore deployed our forensic experts to launch investigations in collaborations with experts in Canada and United States to crack the syndicate,” he said.
Some of the fake domain names used by the scammers to conduct the fake recruitments are “Nigeriacustomsservice.net,” and “nigeriacustomsservice.info.” They were also said to have allegedly opened various fake facebook accounts in the name of the Comptroller-General of Customs to further deceive unsuspecting job seekers. In connivance with bank officials, they went further to open a bank account with the name “Customs Wuse,” where payments were made into by the job seekers.
Tahir while commending the good investigative work done by the Services’ forensic experts in collaboration with experts in Canada and the United States, also acknowledged the high level support given the Service by the Chairman of ICPC, Ekpo Nta, who seconded his operatives to participate in the over three months-period investigation.
He said preliminary investigation revealed that the website and facebook accounts were masterminded by one Umoh Moses also known as Prince Moses and Prince Umoh, who was arrested alongside three other suspects whose names were given as Obinwanne Donatus, Abua Steve and Duru Chidi.
The suspects were found to be operating a company known as BIIS located at no. 11, Tetlow Road, Owerri, Imo State, while the fake site were hosted by an Ibadan-based company known as Skyskay System Limited, with one Kayode Abiodun Ogundele as the alleged mastermind.
According to Musa, forensic experts operating from the US and Canada also found the involvement of a commercial bank where an account was opened using the name “Customs Wuse,” domiciled in Aba, Abia State, which was used to defraud the job seekers.
He said a manager of the bank with four other staff were arrested for high-level collusion and failure to discharge their obligations of ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’. Five laptops, five mobile phone sets and central processing unit were retrieved from the suspects for further forensic analysis to determine the extent of their involvement in this crime.
It was gathered that operatives of the Service were sent to the web designer’s office in Owerri, on an undercover mission with pretence to learn how to design websites. This enabled the Service gather more information about the syndicate and the information confirmed what the forensic experts had already found. It was at this stage that Customs and ICPC operatives moved in and arrested all the suspected illegal recruitment syndicate who would now be made to face trial in the law court.
In a related case, two serving corps members, Sanusi Abubakar and Hassan Nura Maiyaki were also arrested in Abuja for involvement in ‘money-for-job’ scandal. They were lured into Abuja by Customs operatives to collect the sum of N400,000 for two Customs recruitment letters.
“Their victims, who were to have been defrauded in Sokoto, insisted that payment for the letters would only be made after sighting the original copies. A trap was set for them, when they came to Abuja to consummate the deal before their arrest,” Tahir said.
In yet another case, one Hassan Haruna duped three job applicants of a total sum of N3 million in the guise of helping them to secure employment into Customs. Hassan was arrested in Apapa, Lagos, when he walked into a trap set for him by Customs operatives.
“I want to acknowledge the high level of support we enjoined from the Chairman, ICPC, Barr. Ekpo Nta, who graciously seconded some of his operatives who participated in this investigation. I must commend their commitment to painstaking approach which has led the Service to these discoveries,” Tahir said.
He added that “for the benefit of all, we also like to alert Nigerians that these web scammers do not limit their activities to recruitment alone. They also use on-line platforms to extort money from victims in exchange for fake auction papers, contracts and other business deals.
“Another recent trend is dropping the names of principal aides of the Comptroller-General as baits for unsuspecting victims. Members of the public are to note that there is no service provided by the Customs that requires payment of un-receipted facilitating fees of any kind. Let me emphasise that the process of recruitment and contracts in Customs fulfil all requirements of fairness and transparency prescribed by the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he stated.