Army arraigns two for recruitment fraud

The authorities of the Nigeria Army on Thursday paraded two scammers who specialised in defrauding members of the public through a telephone recruitment outfit.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said, while parading the suspects in Abuja on Friday, that they were picked up at Ekpoma, Edo State, on August 5, 2015.

Usman said the suspects, Messrs Augustine and Felix (surnames withheld) were swindling the members of the public in the guise of recruiting intending candidates into the Nigerian Army.

The Army Acting Spokesman said the suspects impersonated a senior military officer and opened a Facebook account with the picture of the officer in which he was addressing troops as their profile picture.

He said the suspects displayed a phone number, 0816442929, for intending recruits into the Army and directed their unsuspecting victims to pay various sums into the Ekpoma Branch of Guaranty Trust Bank.

He said the Army decided to parade the suspects to use their case as a deterrent to others.

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He said, “We also want to reiterate that members of the public should ignore FaceBook advertisements for recruitment or commission into the Nigerian Army. They should please rely on authentic Nigerian Army websites for information on recruitment and officers’ commission.”