Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has warned fraudsters to stop using the commission and his name to extort prominent political office holders including sitting governors, ministers and national chairmen of leading political parties.

According to the EFCC, members of some criminal gangs have been writing invitation letters to some Politically Exposed Persons on the pretext that such communication emanated from the office of the Acting Chairman of the EFCC.

“The Commission has had cause to issue public disclaimer of such fraudulent letters, still the criminals are undeterred. The situation is made worse by the fact that not all recipients of such fraudulent invites had the courage to seek clarification.

“The EFCC wishes to dissociate itself from the activities of these criminal gangs. It is important to state that Mr. Magu has not written or mandated any one to write any invitation letter to any state Governor and has no reason to do so as they belong in the category of officials that enjoy constitutional immunity from criminal prosecution while in office.”

The Commission also urged this category of public officers to be circumspect and verify the authenticity of any supposed invitation from the Acting Chairman of the EFCC in order not to be ensnared by fraudsters.

It further stated that there had been instances in the past in which fraudsters cloned the email and Facebook accounts of the EFCC Chairman and were sending messages demanding bribes from unsuspecting members of the public.

The anti-graft agency warned that under no circumstance should members of the public offer gratification to any one that claims to be an officer of the EFCC, stressing that such demand for gratification is enough indication that an impostor was up to mischief and should immediately be reported to the nearest office of the Commission or the Police station.