The Rivers State Police Command said its operatives arrested two persons for allegedly impersonating the state Commissioner of Police, Okon Effiong, and defrauding unsuspecting members of the public.
The suspects were said to have uploaded the photo of the police boss and created a fake Facebook account with his image with which they swindled people.
The spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, disclosed this in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Monday.
Iringe-Koko said the suspects, both from Etche in Rivers State, were tracked to their hideout and arrested.
The statement read, “Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Rivers State Command have tracked and arrested two suspects namely; Amadi Hemenachi, 28 and Goodluck Nnochiri, 27.
“The two are from Akukabi and Obibi villages respectively in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
They are involved in a case of conspiracy, impersonation, forgery, obtaining money by pretence and unlawful possession of multiple ATM cards.
“The suspects are alleged to have hacked into the Google network and uploaded the photograph of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Okon Effiong, and used the same to create a fake Facebook account.
“Investigation revealed that they impersonated the CP and used the fake Facebook account to obtain money from several unsuspecting citizens, mostly job and admission seekers.”
She said, while confessing to the crime, the suspects have revealed that they usually hack into different websites, print out names of people, their phone numbers and addresses, and thereafter call to defraud them.
The statement added, “After investigation, they will be charged in court.
“The Rivers State Commissioner of Police advises members of the public to be mindful of the personal confidential details they display on social media handles, and promptly report cases of hacked social media accounts.”
