Why We investigate Travel Documents, Employment Scams– EFCC.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has revealed that its operatives investigate travel documents and employment scams because they have become new avenues for fraudsters.

The issues were discussed during the town hall meeting hosted on its official Twitter handle on Wednesday.

The EFCC’s role was explained by  Olaniyi Olusayo, Head, Counter Terrorism and Investigation of the Commission’s Lagos zonal command.

He said EFCC has a special power for the coordination and enforcement of all the activities of financial crime laws, which include investigation of fake travel documents, and employment scam.

Olusayo said scammers lure people into believing that if they invest a certain amount of money in their country abroad, they can get the country’s citizenship.

He said the scammers deceive their victims into believing that they will be able to work in countries they invest in and bring in their families and friends.

He said,  “They call it citizenship by investment. It is everywhere now, you see people making all sorts of advertisements such as investment scheme posters.

“If a travel agent gets a travel document for someone overseas, they will tell you that for you to work in Dubai for example, you need a work permit.

“First of all, they will tell you to pay registration fees. You need to pay other fees which include employment fees, Visa fees, and so on.

“By the time you make such payments, just like advance fee fraud, if it’s all they needed from you, and you later present this visa, you’ll find out that you will face problems with the government of that country because you’re in possession of a fraudulent document.”

Bamaiyi Haruna Mai Riga, a forensic document analyst at the EFCC headquarters, said perpetrators of such crimes do not go scot-free.

He noted that the possession of fraudulent documents is a financial and economic crime in different parts of the world, adding that there are penalties for engaging in document fraud.

“Other than being denied the benefits of having the document in itself for the offence of obtaining documents by false pretence which is 419, a person who is convicted of such offence is liable to a prison term of 7 years and above.

“If one is charged under the criminal code, he could go in for 3 years and above. And if charged under the Advance Fee Fraud (AFF), that person can go in for 7 years, 9, 14 years,” he said.