Nigeria’s anti-graft agency has warned the public to be wary of fake social media accounts and addressed laundered by fraudsters.
In a statement by acting Head, Media & Publicity, Tony Orilade, the fake social media accounts were set up to spread falsehood about the agency.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC wishes to warn the general public to be wary of fake social media handles and addresses created by unscrupulous members of the public for the single purpose of spreading outright falsehood and misrepresentation of the Commission’s activities,” the statement read.
“Since the Commission was established in 2003, it has embraced both online and offline platforms to expose corrupt practices in its effort to clean up the society and punish fraudsters.
“We however, note that some anti-social elements have remained relentless in seeking to pollute and defeat this effort through the criminal act of cloning the Commission’s social media handles and addresses, and using same to perpetrate fraud.
“It is important to note that Section 6(p) of the EFCC Establishment Act captures the Commission’s mandate for sensitization and enlightenment. On the strength of this, the Commission vastly employs social media as a strong tool in the exposure of financial crimes and corruption.
“This is compelling, given the enormity of the task on our hands and the need to properly and adequately inform the public properly on the evils of financial crimes and corruption, and to check the spread of fake news as it concerns the Commission.
“It is imperative for the public to know and be able to identify the Commission’s authentic social media platforms and strictly interface with the Commission via those platforms.
“The general public is hereby notified that the following are the authentic social media handles and addresses of the Commission:
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“Facebook: @officialefcc; Instagram: @officialefcc and Twitter: @officialefcc
“We further advise that those who wish to interface with us through the social media platforms should note that the Commission’s authentic social media handles and addresses now bear the blue tick as shown in the pictures attached.
“The blue tick indicating verification by Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, make the handles safe, secure and affirms that it belongs to the rightful owner of the page. The Commission also wishes to state that all its social media handles and addresses have exactly the same Eagle logo.
“We state that our authentic social media platforms are interactive, easy-to-use and can be trusted.
“Members of the public should feel free to make enquiries through our verified social media handles and addresses as well as report cases that fall within our purview,through them.
“Furthermore, the Commission can be reached via our hotline: 2348093322644 and our email address: info@efccnigeria.org
“Together we can rid the country of corruption and every form of financial crimes.
“Seen something, say something and the EFCC will surely act.”
