The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has denied being involved in the activities of those it called ‘unscrupulous elements’ who mount road blocks on some highbrow areas of Lagos claiming to be agents of the commission while extorting money form unsuspecting members of the public.
The commission, in a statement from the office of its spokesman, Tony Orilade, said “it is not part of our operational practice to mount roadblocks and we do not hire agents. The criminal elements that mount the Lagos roadblocks are not our staffs and we have no connection whatsoever with their criminal activities”.
Read the full text of the statement here:
The attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has been drawn to the activities of some unscrupulous elements, who mount road blocks on some highbrow areas of Lagos, such as Victoria Island, Lekki and Festac Town, parading themselves as operatives of the Commission and extorting money from unsuspecting members on the allegation that they are suspected internet fraudsters, popularly known as “Yahoo-Yahoo boys.”
For the avoidance of doubt, it is not part of our operational practice to mount roadblocks and we do not hire agents. The criminal elements that mount the Lagos roadblocks are not our staffs and we have no connection whatsoever with their criminal activities.
Our operatives stick to a standard procedure in their operations, which conforms with the global best practices for intelligence officers.
Similarly, the Commission wishes to disown a letter of invite, purportedly emanating from one DSP Dorcas Bukola, via an email address: (drealhelen@gmail.com), inviting unsuspecting members of the public to our office. The email states: “find attached your invitation letter to our office. All necessary details are in the attached document.”
While the said DSP Dorcas Bukola claims to be acting on behalf of the EFCC, we strongly urge the general public and particularly those who have received the mail to ignore the invite as such a character is not in the employ of the Commission and has no authority to act on our behalf. Moreover, the Commission does not invite people online or through any other electronic mailing system.
We also warn every recipient of the mail that the attachment bears a virus that may compromise email accounts once opened.
Furthermore, the EFCC has a verified web mail for its online correspondences and does not use g-mail.
We restate that we are committed to making corruption and its kindred financial and economic crimes unattractive to criminal elements among us. Where in doubt as to the authenticity of a mail from the Commission, do not hesitate to contact us through our email: info@efccnigeria.org or send us message via our social media platforms: (Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram) which share the same address: officialefcc. The Commission can also be reached via the hotline: +2348093322644 (+234809EFCCNIG)
Tony Orilade, Ag. Head, Media & Publicity, May 22, 2019
