The Department of State Services has raised the alarm that criminals are now cloning government websites.
According to Vanguard, the Department of State Services, DSS, has raised the alarm over the activities of those it described as criminals whom it said have cloned the websites of some government agencies, including those of the National Youths Services Corps, NYSC, and the Nigeria Social Investment Trust Fund, NSITF.
The DSS, in a statement, Thursday, by its Spokesperson, Peter Afunanya said the “unscrupulous elements” have deployed the “official identities/paraphernalia of certain Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to shortchange vulnerable persons.”
The DSS spokesperson, however, said that the secret agency is working with the affected agencies to identify the criminals and apprehend them.
“Notably, the Nigeria Social Investment Trust Fund (NSITF) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have so far suffered the tricks of these fraudsters who use decoys to manipulate their victims.
“This, in the case of NSITF, has resulted in loss of varying sums of money by those promised huge returns on Federal Government’s investments and other poverty alleviation initiatives which ended up as fraudulent Ponzi schemes or money doubling ventures.
“On the other hand, some persons have also engaged in the illegal sale of NYSC kits and accoutrements to prospective Corps members. They also advertise the issuance of medical clearance certificates as well as redeployment of corps members to preferred States for primary assignment on medical, security, marital grounds or other reasons”.