Fraudsters Invade Aviation Industry with Fake Recruitment

Fraudsters may have invaded the aviation industry and raked in millions of Naira from unsuspecting Nigerians who are made to pay for flight tickets to attend non-existent interviews with airlines, THISDAY investigations have revealed.

THISDYAY learnt that fraudsters, who front as airline staff, use phone calls to advertise and invite people to attend interviews after they have paid money into their accounts for tickets and sometimes they send fake e-tickets with Personal Name Recorder (PNR) numbers only for the victim to discover at the check-in counter that his ticket was fake.

An eyewitness told THISDAY on Tuesday that he received a call from somebody who introduced himself as Alhaji with phone number 09020325998 (Trucaller identified him as Alhaji Ibrahim) and said that the latest domestic airline, Green Africa Airways was recruiting and he submitted the names of three relatives who were seeking for job.

The Alhaji who used the email, esnieenational@gmail. com called again and said that his relatives had been accepted to attend an interview in Lagos but they must travel to Lagos with the airline, Green Africa Airways and should buy ticket for the flight.

He sent this account number: Mrs. Ijeoma S. Emeka, Keystone Bank, account number, 2052283712 (Head of Ticketing and Reservations, Green Africa Airline), Abuja.

The eyewitness told THISDAY that two things struck him that made him suspicious.

One, he wondered why the invitation insisted that the candidate must travel to Lagos with a flight operated by the airline, when he is free to use any means to get to Lagos.

Two, he also discovered that the account number given was a personal account, not that of the company, that is, the airline.

When THISDAY called the number, the Alhaji, who refused to fully identify himself, said that the recruitment exercise had ended and cut off the call.

Further investigation by THISDAY revealed that many Nigerians had been defrauded in this way and when the airline, Green Africa Airways was contacted, an official of the airline identified as Toyin, revealed that the company had received a lot of calls about recruitment exercise and said that the company was not recruiting.