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Opinions of Sunday, 29 July 2018

Columnist: Mohammed Abdul Hanan EL-Saeed

Stopping the nuisance from fake mallams, lotto forecasters

Do not accept friendship requests from these mallams Do not accept friendship requests from these mallams

The so-called mallams and lotto forecasters on Facebook are nothing but local and international fraudsters who specializes in cloning, duplicating and creating multiple Facebook accounts using pictures of other people to defraud gullible and unsuspecting users.

Keep a close eye on them and keep monitoring your accounts from time to time and filter your friendship list more often.

Do not accept a second request from those who are already on your friend's list without contacting them to find out if indeed they are the ones sending you the new request.

Do not accept a new friendship request from people whose activities on Facebook do not go beyond one year or in some cases even three months unless those people are known to you and have actually contacted you to inform you that they have created a new account.

Do not open suspicious or malicious websites sent to you especially on WhatsApp telling you to fill in your details to win free data, call time or credits as this could open you up for serious troubles.

Do not accept friendship from beautiful ladies or handsome looking guys without doing due diligence of their accounts to establish if indeed they are the persons they claim to be. Usually, these criminals gangs/fraudsters use such pictures to lure their victims online only to change them to other pictures ie lotto forecasters, Mallam this and mallam that, Togbes this, and Togbe that or Nana this, Nana that. Check your friends request carefully before you accept them.

Criminals send these malicious messages around just so that they can be able to get unsuspecting individuals to reveal their identities and account details unknowingly for they (the criminals) to use to create new accounts with your name and pictures and present themselves to your friends as if you are the one sending the request.

Whenever someone sends you a link on WhatsApp especially asking you to fill in your details and forward same to your friends to win data or call time. Just delete them for what they are worth. They are nothing but criminal minds throwing traps to catch you and make a meal out of your ignorance.

Please do not give in to such people as there is no free gift anywhere again in this world.

Don't say Painkiller didn't tell you. Wise up! Wake up and take control of your social media life.