The Nigerian Army has warned those impersonating the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, on social media to stop or face the consequences.
The warning is contained in a statement by the Director, Army Public Relations, Maj.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, on Sunday in Abuja.
Nwachukwu said the army had been inundated with complaints of an increasing number of impostors, claiming to be COAS on various social media platforms.
He said the impostors had continued to perpetrate the mischief using the official portrait of the COAS, as profile picture on their various social media platforms.
According to him, it is imperative to state that this is not the first time impostors 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/ virtual 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 impostors 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.
“These are: 09033949238, 09075323836, 09074272745, 08169257155, 08064561495, 08054138812, 09161521558, 09026515718, 09020898622, 08131333263, 09077188584, 08084529752, 08147409236, 09136497898, 09024627712, 07010119398, 09138997224, 09061549129, 08163593764, 07035272009, 09018150412, 08093524443 and 08088120581.
“While the Nigerian Army, like other sister services of the Armed Forces, have peculiar ways of communication known to all officers and soldiers, members of the general public must be wary of the danger posed by these impostors.
“You 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,” he said.
Nwachukwu also urged 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 army hierarchy.
He added that established protocols and procedures should be relied on while being vigilant against the wiles of scammers