The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) announced on Friday that it had uncovered a syndicate of individuals impersonating commission employees and issuing fake national identity numbers (NINs) to unsuspecting Nigerians.
NIMC Director-General, Abisoye Coker-Odusote, revealed this during a press briefing in Abuja, stating that the commission became aware of the issue after receiving a complaint from a customer who paid N120,000 to modify her birth certificate.
Odusote also disclosed that the NIN database had grown to over 107.34 million Nigerians enrolled as of May 2024, compared to 104 million in December 2023.
Explaining the modus operandi of the syndicate, the director-general stated that the individuals posed as business vendors and cyber café operators, creating links, developing software, and producing fake NINs for unsuspecting individuals.
“These data do not reach our server, leading to numerous Nigerians falling victim to scams,” she emphasized.
Further investigations led to the discovery of a group of individuals around the commission’s annex office. While the number of persons being interrogated was not disclosed, Odusote assured that once the investigation was concluded, they would be prosecuted for cybercrimes.
Efforts are underway for government ministries, departments, and agencies to harmonize their identity databases with NIMC for the establishment of a centralized identity database, according to Coke-Odusote.
