Northern youths arrested in Ondo, victims of job scam, investigation reveals

Indications emerged at the weekend that the 42 Northern youths who were turned back by the Ondo State government last week were victims of a job scam

An investigation by Tribune  Online revealed that apart from the youth, a Non-Governmental Organisation, Harmony Corps, that organised the training for the youths from about nine states across the country was also scammed.

An official of the NGO who spoke on condition of anonymity disclosed that the scam was unraveled by the officials of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) in Ondo State, leading to the arrest of the arrowhead of the syndicate in Asaba, Delta State.

According to the official, who said contrary to the report that no action was taken by the DSS, he said the DSS investigation helped to unmask those behind the scam, saying the perpetrators would soon be brought to book.

He explained that some men who claimed to be a consultant to an oil company from Eagle Eye, approached the Harmony Corps to help in the recruitment of young men who will be employed by an oil company for the security of its facilities.

He said, “these men approached us and collected money running to millions of Naira from the interested youths. The youths paid N10,000 each which was meant for capturing the information of the interested youths.

“The money was paid into the personal account of one Desmond who collected all the data of the interested youths, who claimed it would be inputted to the card reader for easy access.

“They directed the youths from Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Delta, Kano, Cross River, Anambra, Jigawa, and Imo States to come to Ondo State for the training. But the Kano and Jigawa States came earlier because of their distance.

“They lied to us that letters had been sent to all the security agencies in the state concerning the training in Ondo state only to find out at the last minute that it was not true but the youths from Kano and Jigawa states are already here.

“But it was late before we found out that the men have scammed us and we cannot halt the young men’s movement as they have arrived at the Army Barracks where they said the training will take place.

“It was this development that helped to throw more light on the activities of the scammer while those behind the scam were investigated and the leader of the syndicate was arrested in Delta State through the DSS intelligence gathering.

“The invasion of the men who said they were in the state for security training created tension in the state but it was later discovered that they were scammed and not on any other mission than for the training.”

He, however, noted that the biggest issue is that scammers advertise jobs the same way that legitimate employers do, and warned individuals and companies to be wary of these scammers.

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