By ZAKAA LAZARUS, ABUJA
The Nigerian Army has been inundated with complaints of increasing number of imposters, claiming to be the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede on various social media platforms.
According to Army Spokesperson Major General Onyema Nwanchukwu said the imposters have continued to perpetrate this mischief using the official portrait of the COAS, as profile picture on their various social media platforms.
It is imperative to state that this is not the first time imposters have attempted to impersonate the person of the COAS on social media platforms to dupe unsuspecting members of the public in one form or the other.
A new trend observed however, is the fixing of online/ vitual meetings on zoom, WhatsApp, Facebook and other online engagements with demand that participants share specific numbers which appear on their screens during such meetings with which the imposters then engage individually with the participants and subsequently defraud them.
So far, the Nigerian Army has identified the following numbers as being frequently used by the fraudsters:
a. 09033949238.
b. 09075323836.
c. 09074272745.
d. 08169257155.
e. 08064561495.
f. 08054138812.
g. 09161521558.
h. 09026515718.
i. 09020898622.
j. 08131333263.
k. 09077188584.
l. 08084529752.
m 08147409236.
n. 09136497898.
o. 09024627712.
p. 07010119398.
q. 09138997224.
r. 09061549129.
s. 08163593764.
t. 07035272009.
u. 09018150412.
v. 08093524443.
w. 08088120581.
While the Nigerian Army, like other sister services of the Armed Forces have peculiar ways of communication known to all officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army, members of the general public must be wary of the danger posed by these imposters and are therefore urged to refrain from engaging in any online meeting organised on social media platforms especially using the official portrait of the COAS as the display picture.
Members of the general public are enjoined to report such mobile phone numbers used to fix such online or virtual meetings through the Nigerian Army toll-free call centre number 193 for appropriate follow-up actions.
The Nigerian Army entreats personnel and non personnel alike to be circumspect in engaging in any social media online, virtual meeting, or call, as official means of communication with the Nigerian Army hierarchy.
Established protocols and procedures should be relied on while being vigilant against the wiles of scammers.
