The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has raised the alarm over a growing trend of impersonators posing as its officials to defraud and harass members of the public.

In a statement on Tuesday by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, the anti-graft agency said the trend, observed across major cities, involves organised groups deploying deceptive tactics to undermine its operations and damage its reputation.

These include setting up ambushes around eateries and leisure spots, where young people are falsely accused of internet fraud and stripped of their belongings. The suspects reportedly wear fake EFCC uniforms and transport victims to locations made to resemble official commission offices.

“Their modus operandi is laying ambush for innocent youths coming out of the eateries and harassing them on unfounded suspicions of being internet fraudsters and dispossessing them of their valuables.

“These characters usually portray the identities of authentic EFCC officers by dressing in fake uniforms and moving their victims to locations bearing fictitious resemblance to an EFCC office,” the statement said.

The commission also identified another group targeting motorists, using vehicle number plates as a pretext to extort money. According to the EFCC, these individuals are often armed and rely on intimidation and fabricated allegations to coerce compliance.

It further expressed concern about online impersonators and content creators staging dramatized raids, complete with forced entry scenes, to mimic EFCC operations.

READ ALSO: Tech entrepreneur accuses EFCC of harassment, unlawful seizure of belongings

The agency said such portrayals misrepresent its procedures and risk misleading the public into attributing unlawful actions to its personnel.

“The public is enjoined to be circumspect in its evaluation of claims intended to drag the Commission’s image into the mud. The EFCC has its standard operating procedures about all its activities and appropriate channels of ventilating grievances against any operation or officer of the Commission are in place.

“While the EFCC is steadfastly pursuing its mandate of ridding the nation of economic and financial crimes and other acts of corruption, well-meaning and reform-minded Nigerians should not allow their judgment of the works of the Commission to be negatively affected by the activities of these impersonators, blackmailers and fake characters using the identities of the Commission to serve their nefarious interests,” the statement added.

EFCC warns criminals are impersonating officers for fake operations

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