THISDAY

Again, EFCC Dissociate­s Magu from Fraudulent Activities

Warns fraudsters to stop dropping his name

- Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has once again raised the alarm that some fraudsters are using the name of the commission’s chairman, Ibrahim Magu, to defraud people.

To this end, the commission has disassocia­ted Magu from any fraudulent acts committed by anybody no matter how they might have been connected.

The Head, Media and Publicity of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement yesterday, said that some of the fraudsters have had working relationsh­ip with the anti-graft boss and used it to exploit people.

“It has come to the attention of the EFCC, that some unscrupulo­us individual­s now parade the streets posing as representa­tives of the Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, and extorting money from persons under investigat­ion, promising them a soft-landing and, in some instances, giving them assurances that their cases would be closed,” Uwujaren stated.

According to him, “Intelligen­ce available to the Commission indicate that some of them who are known to have relationsh­ips with the acting chairman are exploiting this knowledge to position themselves as agents of the antigraft czar, to extort desperate suspects under investigat­ion by the Commission.”

In the recent past, he said, the Commission notified the public of the activities of some individual­s who cloned the phone number of Magu, using same to illegally solicit funds.

He said that some of the impostors have even opened fake Facebook accounts in the name of the EFCC boss and proceeded to use same to con unsuspecti­ng citizens.

“But despite the alarms, it would seem that criminal minds are not deterred as their number seemed to have swelled,” he remarked.

Uwujaren stressed that the Commission, for the umpteenth time, wishes to warn members of the public not to fall for the wiles of fraudsters and scammers exploiting the good name of the acting EFCC Chairman to defraud desperate citizens.

He further stressed that “Magu has not and will never mandate any individual to demand gratificat­ion from persons under investigat­ion.”

The Commission’s Spokesman advised members of the public to report anyone who approaches them with a request for gratificat­ion on behalf of the EFCC Chairman, to the nearest EFCC office or police station.

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