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IMPERSONATION OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

The Cyber Security Authority (CSA) warns of online scams promoting fake job recruitment. Impersonation of government officials is a striking example of the kind of methods cybercriminals are now deploying to try to con people.

Cybercriminals prey on their victims on social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter). Scammers attempt to lure people by using a clone of a government official’s account with the same name, pictures and biography. Many citizens have fallen victims to these cybercriminals because these citizens are convinced that they are chatting with a government official.

How the scammers operate

  • They post contents of the official they are impersonating like pictures, campaign videos, etc.)
  • There is always a sense of urgency. E.g., “Deadline for payment is today, failure to do so, and your name will be taken out of the employment list.”
  • They promise to help their victims get employment.
  • They refer victims to call their referees to help them secure the job.
  • A said amount is coated to be paid to aid in the purchasing of forms or processing of forms.

We urge the public to be vigilant and always check for verified social media accounts. A verified account has a little blue checkmark to indicate that the platform has confirmed the account in question is trustworthy, or at least they are whom they say they are.

The CSA is raising public awareness to show the criminals behind them that we know what they are up to and are taking action to stop it. We would urge the public to continue to forward their suspicions and incidents to our various points of contact.


INCIDENT REPORTING

The public is also encouraged to report any suspected cybersecurity incidents to CERT-GH at the Cyber Security Authority (CSA). Once a report is received, CERT-GH will work with relevant institutions, including Sectoral CERTs (NCA/Telecommunications Sector CERT, NITA/Government Sector CERT, BoG/Financial sector CERT), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Data Protection Commission (DPC) and other relevant institutions to provide appropriate response and mitigating measures. The public is hereby advised to use the below points of contact to report incidents