EFCC: Close associates use my name to dupe people —Magu

The Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has raised the alarm that some unscrupulous individuals now parade the streets, posing as his representatives 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.

The EFCC, in a statement by the Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said intelligence available to the commission indicated that some of them are known to have relationships with the acting chairman and were exploiting this knowledge to position themselves as agents of the anti-graft czar to extort desperate suspects under investigation by the commission.

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

'Some 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.

'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.

'Mr Magu has not and will never mandate any individual to demand gratification from persons under investigation,' the statement read