Beware of This New Trick Employed By Fraudsters - DSS

The Director, Federal Capital Territory Command of the Directorate of State Services (DSS), Abubakar Bubuche, has warned residents on the activities of criminal syndicates, who specialize in using computer animation to manipulate pictures with the aim of extorting money from their victims.

The DSS boss, who gave the warning in Abuja yesterday, said the fraudsters after manipulating the photos of their victims, would then send such to their targets, threatening to post them on Facebook as well as other social media platforms, if they refuse to part with certain huge amount of money.

“This is to inform the general public about the activities of a criminal syndicates’ style of operation include, among others, the use of computer animation to strip their victims and put their nude pictures on Facebook and other social media platforms.

“The gang calls up their potential victims and orders them to pay certain amount of money to a given account numbers or have their personal pictures edited and posted nude on the internet”, Bubuche said.

According to him, the DSS, upon receipt of various complaints of the activities of these criminal syndicate, swung into action, leading to the arrest of two people in connection with the internet fraud.

The suspects – Shettima Baba Shehu (35 years) and Abdullahi Hassan (22 years) – were arrested in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, by DSS operatives from the FCT Command.

“The public may wish to note that this syndicate has diverse membership with various professional skills, especially in ICT. Citizens and FCT residents alike are advised to be wary of fraudsters and promptly report similar cases and suspected persons to the security agencies”, the FCT DSS Director said.