A LinkedIn account has been preying on unsuspecting job seekers and posing as a top recruiter for the Dangote Group, a multi-billion-dollar Nigerian conglomerate.
The fraudulent account is named Alhaji Aaliyah F. on the employment-focused social media platform.
This fraudulent account claimed to be a talent acquisition specialist, recruitment specialist and chief executive officer of Olympic Staff Solution. The account also claimed to be a senior human resources recruiter at Dangote Industries Limited.
“We are currently recruiting candidates for the below position with Dangote Industries Limited (Nigeria),” the fraudulent account stated in the first week of 2024.
The fake job recruitment post had gained hundreds of comments and reactions before the account locked the comments section. This was after doubts were raised about its holder’s role at Dangote.
Dangote Group confirmed the job recruitment post was bogus. It referred to the post as fake recruitment.
In a social media post on its official Facebook account, Dangote said that the LinkedIn recruiter was not affiliated with it.
“It has come to our attention that some individuals falsely claim to recruit on behalf of the Dangote Group. Posing to be affiliated with us, they demand payment for employment in some positions across our business units,” the Nigerian group of companies wrote in its statement.
“Please note that Dangote Group and our official Recruiting Agencies and Platforms:
“• DO NOT request money, fees, or payment of any kind from prospective candidates for employment, or to apply to our company, or for the recruitment process.
“• DO NOT request or require personal documents such as bank account details, tax forms or credit card information as part of the recruitment process, before the candidate is invited for an interview or offered employment with the Dangote Group.
“The Dangote Group will not be liable for any claims, losses or other inconvenience resulting from or in any way connected to the actions of these impostors.”
As of 2021, according to Statista, 6.3 million employable Nigerians were unemployed. The rate of unemployment in Nigeria is on an upward curve.
An unmanaged high cost of living coupled with widespread poverty has forced many desperate job seekers to fall victim to employment scams.
Credit: FIJ Nigeria
