The WhatsApp number of Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno, has been hacked and cloned by an impostor, who currently deployed it into some fraudulent transactions running into millions of naira in the name of the governor, LEADERSHIP learnt yesterday.
One of the conversations requested favour from a close ally of the governor asking him to send N7 million to someone on the governor’s behalf, promising to refund later, as the governor is currently in the United States for a state’s function.
The cash, it was gathered, was to be transferred to a dedicated account, but the official involved was said to have suspected foul play and intimated some key officials of the government.
Confirming the incident, the chief press secretary (CPS) and spokesman of the governor, Mr Ekerete Udoh, alerted the public against being hoodwinked into falling prey to the fraudsters.
He said: “Our attention has been drawn to a carefully orchestrated fraudulent posts on some social media platforms, where some criminal elements have cloned the WhatsApp number of His Excellency, the governor of Akwa Ibom State, with an intent to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
“We hereby warn that any message appearing to solicit funds by these imposters should be totally ignored by the general public as they do not emanate from the governor.
“The law enforcement agents have been duly alerted and are on the trail of the perpetrators of this ignoble act.”
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