- The WhatsApp account of Akwa Ibom governor Umo Eno has been hacked by some fraudsters
- This underlines that despite all efforts by EFCC, cyber fraud still remain a major problem in Nigeria
- Cybersecurity analyst Bilal Abdullahi urged governors to add additional security to their numbers and social media accounts
Suspected fraudsters have hacked the WhatsApp number of Umo Eno, the governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich Akwa Ibom state, and asked his contacts for money.
Akwa Ibom, in southern Nigeria, is the country’s third-richest state based on its annual gross domestic product of $19bn (£15bn).
The governor, a pastor who founded the All Nations Christian Ministry International, was elected last year.
Many of Mr Eno's phone contacts received messages from his WhatsApp number on Tuesday, August 14, asking them to transfer a specified amount of money to an account and promising reimbursement later.
The governor's chief press secretary, Ekerete Udoh, released a statement confirming that the governor's WhatsApp number was "cloned" by criminals attempting to defraud unsuspecting individuals.
Mr Udoh said law enforcement agencies had been notified.
"We hereby warn that any message appearing to solicit funds by these imposters should be totally discountenanced by the general public as they do not emanate from the Governor,” the statement read.
Less than a month ago, a phone number linked to another governor was compromised in similar circumstances - Ademola Adeleke of Osun state, the uncle of Afrobeats star Davido.
Cybersecurity analyst Bilal Abdullahi said governors should add additional security to their numbers and WhatsApp to avoid issues of this nature.
“WhatsApp enables additional security layers whereby one can link the app to his email for authorisation before use and also there‘s what we call App Lock, whereby one can lock the application and can only use it if he inserts a pin or passcode,” he said.
Despite a massive clampdown in recent years, with the financial crimes agency EFCC arresting thousands of people, cyber-fraud, popularly called "Yahoo-Yahoo" remains a big problem in Nigeria.
The director of Nigeria’s National Cyber Crime Centre (NCCC), Uche Ifeanyi Henry, recently disclosed that Nigeria's government had spent millions of pounds on a state-of-the-art cyber-crime centre, to show it was taking cyber-crime seriously.
5 common scams every Nigerian should be aware of
Meanwhile, in an earlier report, TheRadar reported that scam in Nigeria had become a prevalent issue that affected many Nigerians daily. These frauds were often carried out through simple but cunning methods.
It listed some common types of scams you need to pay attention to so as not to fall prey: Multimedia messages from unknown senders, Impersonation of family members, One-time passwords (OTP), POS scams, and Customer Support scams.