The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that it was not conducting an recruitment exercise.
In a statement, its Public Relations Officer, Deputy Controller Wale Adeniyi, said the organisation was “launching an all-out war against internet fraudsters who specialise in extorting money from innocent Nigerians under the pretext of offering them jobs, auctions or contracts”.
The statement explained that the integrated approach on social media was coming on the heels of recent upsurge of fraudsters using the name of the NCS to solicit applications for non-existent job offers for a fee that is usually paid into personal bank accounts.
The statement read, “The advert circulating on the WhatsApp platform is the latest of those criminal attempts to mislead desperate job-seekers.
“The post which went viral over the weekend is a copy and paste reproduction of the previous recruitment adverts, with a clever insertion of the Service website address. To achieve their criminal objective, the same advert directs applicants to visit a fake website which is www.customsrecruit.com.ng. Victims are eventually requested to make some payments to complete the phoney forms.
“Already 12 suspects have been arrested and will soon be charged to court.
“The general public is therefore advised to discountenance such advertisements found in any online platforms except those released in the NCS authentic and authoritative platforms- www.customs.gov.ng and www.facebook.com/customsng.
“To avoid being victims, all prospective job seekers, and those who want to transact any business with the Service are advised to note the official online platforms as well as visit the nearest Customs station when in doubt.”
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