Job scam victims should come forward, help us with information —Lagos police

The sad tale of Iniubong Umoren, a graduate job seeker in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, who was lured to her death with a fake job opportunity, has again drawn public attention to the activities of fake job recruiters around the country. In this report, DAYO AYEYEMI, TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE, TOLA ADENUBI, SUBAIR MOHAMMED and SYLVESTER OKORUWA, tell the stories of some victims in Lagos.

THE police in Lagos State have indicated their readiness to clamp down on criminal networks behind job scams in the state.

There are said to be many such networks who are taking advantage of the high unemployment rate in the state to swindle unsuspecting job seekers, especially fresh graduates.

The command requested victims of such crime to come forward with clues that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators.

The spokesman of the state police command, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the command and its Divisional Police Officers had not received any complaints from victims of job scams despite the outcry on social media. Adejobi said men of the command had visited some of addresses that were circulated on social media but they were discovered to be non-existent.

He said: “We have not made any arrests because nobody has come forth to lodge any complaint. Apart from this, some of the addresses flying around on social media spaces could not be traced. What I want to do is to go to my Twitter handle and broadcast that victims should directly talk to me about their experiences.

“If we have one or two persons that have been invited, we would be able to extract some information from such persons which our team will work with. We have not received any complaints about job scam and neither has any DPO within the command got any complaint relating to job scam. Perhaps it is happening but the victims refuse to approach the police to lodge complaints. People that have fallen victim to job scams should make some noise about it.

“On the addresses that are being shared on the social media, I have copied and shared it with our team and it was discovered that some of the addresses are non-existent and nobody operates in them.

“So, I am inviting victims of job scams to come forward and talk to me either personally or on my Twitter handle to share their experiences as this will guide and lead us to the perpetrators of such crime.”

Lagos, no doubt, is Nigeria’s economic capital. It is known for its entrepreneurial dynamism – and traffic snarls. As the commercial nerve centre of the country and headquarters of banks, insurance companies, blue-chip firms, real estate, Nigeria’s two viable ports, among others, people across the federation always troop to Lagos in search of job opportunities.

However, the case of Iniubong Umoren, a job seeker in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, who was killed and buried  in a shallow grave by one Uduak Akpan who had lured her with a fake job offer, has again brought to the fore the nefarious activities of fake job recruiters in the Lagos metropolis.

Before now, they used to engage young school leavers who helped in distributing job leaflets to passers-by in locations like Berger Bus Stop, Ojota Bus Stop, Ikeja Under Bridge and Oju-Elegba Bus Stop. However, with the advent of mobile phones and social media, they have upped their game as they now engage cutting-edge tools to reach out to would-be victims. Some of them have even hoisted their websites.

Apart from using different tricks to swindle their victims under the pretext of helping them to secure jobs, Saturday Tribune gathered that they also hack into websites of big companies, thereby interfering in their recruitment exercise.

 

Hacking government?

Saturday Tribune also gathered that some fraudsters recently hacked into the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) recruitment portal and duped many unsuspicious job applicants.

For Olushola Kazeem, a resident of the Ketu area of Lagos, despite not being shortlisted for the final phase of the ‘Customs’ job interview, he received an email from ‘Customs’ asking him to click on a link to obtain a final screening and verification slip.

“When I clicked on the link, it took me to another page where I was asked to enter my ATM card details to obtain the verification slip after the payment of N3,500.

“On entering my ATM card details, I was debited N3,500 but was not given any verification slip. Out of desperation, I tried again and got debited another N3,500 and still I did not get any verification slip. It was later that my mother said she heard in the news that the Customs raised the alarm about fraudsters having hacked into their recruitment system.

“I don’t know how many other people fell for the scam, but I lost N7,000 to the fraudsters because Customs said they won’t ask any job applicants to pay a dime for any slip,” an embittered Kazeem told Saturday Tribune.

A copy of the email message received by him states: “This message is in response to your application for the position into the Nigeria Customs Service. After careful consideration, we are pleased to inform you that you have been successfully shortlisted for final screening exercise and training that is scheduled for Friday 30th of April, 2021 with verification of document and confirmation of physical disability status, logical reasoning and training for the Service start immediately.”

The schedule of activities for NCS and recruitment final screening exercise, 2021, which was the original message from the service, reads: “In continuation of the Nigeria Customs Service recruitment process, the underlisted candidates are hereby invited to attend the final recruitment screening exercise. The candidates are required to report in batches to the venues assigned to their respective states of origin on dates indicated below:

“This is to inform you that this letter will be null and void in case you do not report at your center on the date and time specified in your final screening exercise invitation and passes slip. Any candidate that fails to report on the indicated dates will not be accepted for final screening exercise and training. We encourage all to please stay safe from COVID-19 and practice hand washing. Be assured of our love.

“You are required to report for your screening exercise and interview with verification of document and confirmation of physical disability status, logical reasoning (check your final screening and training invitation passes slip for more details). ‘Click HERE or copy the following link to your browser to get your verification slip; https://www.ncsrecruitment. net/print&examination&slip/.”

 

Survey

Field survey by Saturday Tribune on four locations/addresses claimed by these job recruiting firms revealed all to be fake. No 4, Kareem Ogungbeye Street in Ikeja CBD and No 12, Ajimobi Street, off Acme Road listed as operational bases were discovered to be a construction site and a hotel respectively. Also, according to a tenant at No 48, Olowu Street, Ikeja, another listed operational address, the firm had relocated to an unknown location.

A search into one of the companies tagged ‘fake job recruiting firms’ on Naija.com, Dew Platform, revealed how the company sent fictitious job  interview messages to people on July 21, 2018. One of the receivers of the messages was a certain Chidimmabela.

.A responder said: “Hey guys, don’t waste your time going. They are mad people. They would tell you to come and register for partnership and kiniko…rubbish!”

Another person said he received a mail from what he was convinced was a phony ‘recruiting company’ by 7.51 a.m. on August 8, 2017.

 

Victims’ bitter tales

A victim, Mr Segun Adewale, said: “I was once scammed. I was given an address with employment letter only for me to get to the address and find out that it is a mechanic workshop. They collect job consultancy fee from job seekers and give them appointment letters to nowhere like mechanic workshops, virgin lands, areas where nobody is residing or doing business.”

He narrated how these job scammers generate phone numbers from contractors, whose main business, is to generate phone numbers from different whatsapp groups, events, telecommunication companies and sell the numbers to them. In the end, he said they would use the generated  phone numbers to send random fake interview notices to people.

He said: “Recently, a job interview appointment message was send to me and my wife. The text message read ‘by recommendation by our directors, you are invited for an interview by Leadership Centre. You are to come for a business interview at Jobi Fele Way, Alausa.”

Decrying the situation, Adewale stated that many job seekers who became victims of job scammers in Lagos were mostly new entrants to the state or those coming from other states for interview, as well as young graduates from very poor background who are very desperate to get a job to take care of themselves and family members.

He added: “These job scammers take advantage of the economic situation in Nigeria to dupe unsuspecting Nigerians. They send job interview notices to unsuspecting applicants. These fake people operate at different levels. Some just collect application fees from job seekers and give them information on job vacancies; others are criminals who rob, rape and even kill job seekers that enter their centres.  Most of the victims of these dubious job racketeers have one horrible tale or the other to tell.

“The third set kills victims for rituals. Their victims are mostly those that came from other states to look for jobs in Lagos. These job scammers are criminals who are on the prowl to rape and even kill people, especially females, for ritual.”

He said the government would need to raise the alarm on the issue to save lives. “One of the things job seekers should note is that companies looking for new employees always place job advertisements in reputable national newspapers while those shortlisted will be sent texts and called. The interview sessions are normally done in the companies’ head offices. They even give transport fare to applicants, not collect money from them.”

For Dan Adebisi, 25, a graduate of Economics from the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, he was in Akure, the Ondo State capital, when he received a text message that his name was among candidates shortlisted for a job interview in an oil and gas company in Lagos.

At first, he was happy about the message but he could not remember applying for a job in the oil and gas industry. He wondered who might have applied on his behalf and concluded that his older brother in Lagos must have done so.

Adebis said: “The name of the company was not mentioned. They just asked me to come with two copies of my curriculum vitae and  to dress formally to the venue of  the interview that was slated for Monday at a place in Allen Avenue, Lagos. I travelled to Lagos from Akure on Saturday only to be told by my brother that he did not apply for any job on my behalf.”

Adebisi said he met other job seekers numbering 93 at the venue on the fateful day. According to him, they were received in a conference hall of one of the hotels at Allen Junction.

“They introduced themselves as  job consultants to various companies ranging from banks, oil and gas, insurance and marketing companies. They said some of the companies had engaged them to help source suitable candidates for various vacancies in their companies. Then one of them said each of us would need to fill a form for N1,000 and buy three recorded discs for N3,000. We were asked to listen to them as they contained study guides for the job  interview,” he narrated .

After the first day, Adebisi said they were grouped into three, depending on jobs applied for and were given different dates to return. Upon his return on the appointed date, Adebisi said he met one of the men who confirmed to him that his application form had been submitted to the oil and gas company and that he should be expecting his letter anytime soon.

“Almost two years now, I have not seen any letter. Although I am now marketing for a real estate company, those men just took advantage of the high unemployment rate in the country to swindle us,” he said.

 

Death at dawn

Mrs Joy James said she received an SMS on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 6.42 p.m. inviting her for an unspecified interview scheduled for the next day at a given address.

According to her, she did not write any application for a job placement and was not looking for one.

“So, I ignored the message without knowing that my husband also received the message via the same phone number and for the same date and at the same address. From there, we concluded that the message would likely be from scammers who have access to our numbers, using the high unemployment situation in the country to lure unsuspecting members of the public for their pecuniary gains.”

But when Saturday Tribune called the number on Wednesday, the receiver who identified himself as Ramsey, said the invite was based on a referral which he didn’t substantiate.

He said the company which he worked for was a multinational organisation dealing in business development and management.

“We don’t take direct applications. It is on recommendation and referral. We partner with many companies and that is why your daughter is recommended to us. It is not a paid job per-se but a business empowerment interview. We create business awareness for people to start up their own businesses. We are not training anybody to be a sales rep but entrepreneur in any area of choice. We have professionals who do the training for people and in one day,” he claimed.

He added that the trainees would be issued the company’s identity card and an operational license upon completion of the training same day. When asked about cost implications of the training, he said he was not in a position to disclose that as such was the prerogative of the professionals who would attend to them.

“We don’t ask people to come with money as some may come and in the end not being interested in what we do. And some have an option of registering first and coming later for the training,” he said.

As it is in the formal sector, so it is in the informal setting. Mr Rotimi Abdul, 52, narrated the story of how a middle-aged woman known as ‘Iya Ibeji’ met her death some years ago at the hands of two bricklayers who lured her with a job in a construction site in the Alakuko area.

“In a bush path to the construction site, the two bricklayers waylaid, killed her and cut off her head. It was after 7.00 p.m. when she did not return home that her husband raised the alarm. Neighbours joined in the search for her and it wasn’t until the next day that they found her headless body in a ditch.

“The case was reported to the police but it took four weeks before members of the Odua People’s Congress (OPC) arrested the two bricklayers from their hideout. They had taken the woman’s head to a native doctor for money ritual in a remote community in Oyo State. The native doctor was also arrested with decaying head of the woman in a cellophane bag. The OPC later handed over the criminals to the police. It happened about 10 years ago,” Rotimi said.

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