A former Honourable Commissioner for Information, Youth, Sports and Culture of Osun State, Hon. Biola Majeed Lawal, has lamented the hacking of his WhatsApp account by fraudsters who have been molesting his contacts with requests for money using his cloned phone number.
Speaking with sympathisers in Oyo town where he is currently on an assignment, Hon. Lawal said that he was particularly saddened that the fraudster succeeded in duping one of his beloved unsuspecting contacts based in his home town, Ede in Osun.
”They extorted a total of N375,000 from him pretending to be me in an urgent situation with a fake assurance of prompt repayment,” Hon. Biola Lawal stressed.
”The fraudster first requested for N75,000 which he sent to an account they sent to him, believing it was from me.
”Once they got that, they followed up with a request for additional N300,000, pretending to be me, which he sent to another account they sent to him different from the first one”.
Hon. Biola Lawal said that the fraudster had made a video call to him with a number showing the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt.-Hon. Mudasiru Obasa in warn greetings to him.
”In an (now) apparently Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated image, the ” Honourable Speaker” told me that he was planning an online media chat for 7.30 pm that day and he wants me to participate,” Hon. Biola Lawal told the sympathisers.
”Of course, I felt for it thinking that the image talking to me was actually the Honourable Speaker,” the former Information Commissioner lamented.
Hon. Biola Lawal, who is also a former Acting Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that from that point on, the rest is history as the fraudster eventually hacked his WhatsApp account.
”Shortly after, I began receiving calls from far and wide, wanting to know if I was the one in distress and requesting for money, which I promptly denied,” the former Honourable Commissioner said.
”We immediately began sending out messages notifying as many as possible contacts that my WhatsApp account had been hacked,” he disclosed.
”Unfortunately, we have now confirmed that at least one person fell victim and sadly, got duped,” Hon. Biola Lawal said.
The former Acting NAN Boss, however, said that all relevant security agencies have been notified of the criminal and highly embarrassing act of the fraudster.
”Insha ALLAH, there are assurances that the perpetrators will be apprehended and brought to justice,” Hon. Biola Lawal said
‘We have contacted EFCC, the Nigeria Police, the Civil Defence and others for urgent redress to get the extorted amount refunded, among other demands that will follow the fraudster’s eventual arrest,” Hon. Biola Lawal disclosed.
‘We are confident, he will be apprehended by the security agencies very soon,” the former Honourable stated hopefully.
”My brother, who was extorted is already on my neck for me to refund him the N375,000 which the fraudster got from him, hence the need for security agencies to help us act fast,” he said
