We Lost Over N10m Staff Allowances To Fraudsters – JAMB

Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof Ishaq Oloyede, Wednesday said a dozen of fraudsters gained access into an intranet site of the board, altered profiles of its ad-hoc staff and diverted over N10m meant for their allowances.

Oloyede, who stated this during the parade of the scammers in Bwari, Abuja, said the board uncovered the fraud after a careful investigation which led to the arrest of one Sahabi Zubairu from Takum in Taraba State, and several others.

He noted that government policy requires that monies meant for ad hoc staff are paid directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries; a situation which, he said, gave room for the challenge the board was facing.

He, however, decried the failure of the accounting department to detect the fraud by cross-checking the names on the accounts to ensure that they tallied with those listed on the website or owners of the codes.

He clarified that the site was not for application to become JAMB ad hoc staff, but for JAMB ad hoc staff to supply their account details and names for payment of their allowances.

Meanwhile, 10 of the scammers admitted to the crime and said they were lured into it by Zubairu.

Check Out The Story Of A Girl That Was Also Scammed 

She said she came down to JAMB Computer Based Test (CBT) centre to address the challenge, only to be hijacked by a fraudster at one of the cyber cafes opposite the facility.

“He asked me what I wanted to do and I told him I wanted to create an email address to complete my admission process and he collected my phone to assist.

“I didn’t know that he diverted the mail and password from my phone to himself. All information was then intercepted by him.

“He then called me first to ask me to send N1000 airtime before he would send the information while claiming to be a staff of JAMB.

 “He later asked for N2000 and then N3000 to release the mail and password and threatened to deal with me if I refuse to cooperate.’’

Ms Adegoke said she couldn’t take it anymore and decided to come to JAMB headquarters to report and make her complaint known.

Moses Peter, who owned the cyber café, claimed not to be aware of the act he claimed was committed by one David Ahmed of Auchi polytechnic.

He said he employed boys at random to go out and look for customers but was not aware of their fraudulent activities.

All suspects apprehended by the board have been handed over to security personnel for further investigations.