Claim: A web-based message circulating on WhatsApp claims that INEC is still recruiting ad-hoc staff for the upcoming 2023 elections.
Verdict: The claim that INEC is still recruiting ad hoc staff for the upcoming 2023 elections is false. The link shared alongside the message is malicious and used by fraudsters to extort users’ personal information. Also, INEC has officially closed the recruitment of ad-hoc staff for the 2023 elections since December 14, 2022.
Full Text
As the 2023 general election gets closer, stakeholders, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), have continued to prepare for the election that will be held between February 25 and March 11, 2023. As the stakeholders continue to work toward a credible poll, scammers have also taken advantage of the season to prey on the data of vulnerable Nigerians who wish to serve as umpires during the elections.
In September 2022, INEC called for applications from qualified citizens to apply as ad-hoc staff with the commission during the election. In a statement on its website, the commission directed prospective applicants to register between September 14 and December 14, 2022, through its Portal for Recruitment of Election Staff (PRES).
Since the launch of the recruitment process by INEC in September, different phishing websites have sprung up to steal data of unsuspecting public members willing to participate in the general election as INEC ad-hoc staff.
As announced, the INEC recruitment portal has been shut down and has remained inaccessible since December 14, 2022. However, between December 31, 2022, and January 1, 2023, multiple WhatsApp groups were rife with messages about INEC ad-hoc staff recruitment shared by multiple users.
The message contains a link that allows users to register as INEC ad-hoc staff ahead of the 2023 elections.
The first stage of the application contained in the said link requires users to provide their details like name, email etc. After the personal details are provided, the applicant is redirected to a different page requiring him or her to share the message with 15 friends or five groups on WhatsApp before accessing their Appointment ID.
After this stage, users are taken to another page where it is stated that the appointment ID has been sent to their email address with an option to ‘print form’ that returns an empty web page.
In an interview with one of the users who shared the message and completed the form, it was gathered that no acknowledgement slip or anything was available after completing the application process on the website. DUBAWA finds this to be unusual and suspicious, a typical scheme used by scammers to extort personal information of online users.
Verification
DUBAWA first searched for the acclaimed website on Whois. WHOIS is a query and response protocol widely used for querying databases that store the registered users or assignees of an Internet resource, such as a domain name, an IP address block, or an autonomous system. The information on the website provided by Whois returned very little information about the website. Most of the information sought returned as ‘redacted for privacy’, indicating that it has been deliberately concealed.
DUBAWA also made attempts to fill out the acclaimed form. Alarmingly, access to the next page was granted without providing email or contact details. This is not the case with the original INEC website, where users are only granted access to the next page when they complete the initial step.
A further check on ‘Scamdadviser.com’, a website that checks the veracity of links, showed that the acclaimed INEC website is being used for scamming schemes. In fact, about 12 different schemes were listed on its home page, including three related to the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign and one related to the Bola Tinubu presidential campaign, all these schemes requesting people’s details.
Ms Iqmot, who registered for the INEC ad-hoc work around October 2022, claimed she was aware of such phishing websites and was careful not to fall prey.
“I registered around October on the INEC PRES portal, and the acknowledgement slip was immediately sent to my email address. I can show you the slip if needed.”
A closer look at her acknowledgement slip shows that it was issued from the INEC website. Also, scanning the QR code on the slip returns her details as captured on the slip. When shown the phishing website, Iqmot said:
“This is definitely fake; you must first create an account before registering on the INEC PRES website. Moreover, I learnt the registration closed around the middle of December.”
While Iqmot’s acknowledgement slip has her passport photograph, the phishing website does not require the applicant’s picture.
DUBAWA also finds that the provided link, whose real identity has been deliberately hidden with a customised Uniform Resource Locator (URL), has a customised link that is being shared on WhatsApp to lure victims.
This is what appears on WhatsApp:
https://lyupz.com/2023-Inec-Staff –Recruitment/
But the real identity of the website link was later found to be:
DUBAWA also finds that https://yournewclaims.com/ is a phishing website designed maliciously to steal the data of unsuspecting public members.
The registration homepage was carefully designed to deceive unsuspecting applicants, with an INEC logo and a replica of the design on authentic INEC PRES.
Conclusion
Nigerians are implored to note that INEC staff recruitment has closed since December 14, 2022. This acclaimed website is a phishing scam link designed to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.