•Governor Umo Eno
EMMANUEL JOHN reporting
The WhatsApp number of Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno, has been cloned by hackers.
This was made known today by the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of The Frontier online newspaper, Sunny Okim.
According to Okim, at exactly 5.05pm today, a message purportedly from Governor Eno was sent to him (Okim) requesting for a favour.
The favour, Okim said, was a request to send Seven Million Naira (N7m) to someone on the governor’s behalf, promising to refund later.
Sensing foul play, the astute journalist asked, “Is this Your Excellency?” But when there was no immediate response to the question, Okim immediately made a voice call on Whatsapp to the same phone number, with the aim of ascertaining the voice of the person making the request, if it was indeed the governor.
“Instead of the person to answer the call, he/she immediately cut it, and instead sent another message saying, ‘I cannot talk now. Call me later’,” narrated the Akwa Ibom State-born Lagos-based journalist, to this reporter.
According to Okim, he then decided to play along by sending another message to the hacker stating, “Okay Your Excellency, I am in the banking hall right now. Forward the account details which I’m to send the N7m to. Thanks.”
With an air of victory, the hacker immediately forwarded the accounts details thus:
Account number: it 7113125376
Account name Suleiman Nasiru A
BANK NAME : kolomoni MFB.
And Okim responded, “Okay. Consider it done. Will inform the bank manager straightaway.”
Okim immediately called the attention of the governor’s media team to the development.
The incident was later confirmed with a press statement issued this evening by the media unit of the Government House, Uyo, Capital of Akwa Ibom State.
Below is the brief statement:
Press Release
Disclaimer
Our attention has been drawn to 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 discountenanced 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.
Ekerete Udoh
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor
August 13, 2024.
See screenshots of the WhatsApp chat between the hacker and The Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of The Frontier, Sunny Okim:
