A Lagos-based legal practitioner, Barr. Chris Eze Ozims, has alerted the public to the hacking of his personal account with the username – CE Ozims – on the social networking site, Facebook, while calling for extra vigilance among members of the public over potential unscrupulous activities that may arise from the compromised account by the suspected hacker(s).
Ozims made this known in a disclaimer emailed to Digital TimesNG on Tuesday, July 5, 2022 in the wake of the incident.
The disclaimer reads as follows:
‘‘I, Barr. Chris Eze Ozims, hereby wish to notify the general public as well as my friends and acquaintances of the hacking of my personal Facebook account with the username – CE Ozims. I also wish to advise the public to be vigilant and avoid any form of communication with the account, for the time being.
‘‘Please note that, pending when the suspected hacker is apprehended by the authorities and the account recovered, I wish to clarify that I have no access or control over the activities on the said account. Consequently, I would not be held responsible for any losses or unscrupulous actions that may be traced to the account.
‘‘While efforts are currently ongoing to retrieve the account and to track down the suspected hacker(s), I crave your indulgence in flagging the account by reporting it to Facebook as part of efforts to get it suspended and the hacker dispossessed of same.
‘‘Thank you for your expected cooperation and attention to this sensitive matter,’’ the disclaimer reads.
This development comes amid a noticeable rise in the activities of suspected fraudsters, some of whom specialise in hacking the social media accounts of users and in turn, using same to reach out to the contacts of the original owner as well as other unsuspecting members of the public to scam them of their hard-earned money.
In addition, some of them target businesses in order to defraud them or their customers in what is widely known as Business Email Compromise (BEC).
Business email compromise is a large and growing problem that targets organizations of all sizes across every industry around the world. It is also believed to have exposed organizations to billions of dollars in potential losses.