Matilda Omonaiye/
Former Editor of Daily Times, Mr Biodun Durojaiye, has raised the alarm over the activities of fraudsters who hacked into his website.
Durojaiye shared his experience on Facebook.
His words: “He called me with the number 09065414165 at about 10.45 am, posing as a support staff from Jiji.ng, a popular free classifieds website where I had ‘Boosted ads’ running. He started by asking how my ads on Jiji were performing.
“I was a good candidate for him because I had paid to Boost my ads (to promote my Inverter and Solar business), until September 19. And I was a verified advertiser on Jiji. Being ‘verified’ makes potential buyers to trust you more.
“I said I was getting calls for some of my ads, and little or no calls for others. Please note that Jiji support staff calls advertisers once in a while, especially before you pay to ‘Boost’ your ads, or place it in ‘Top’ position.
“He said I should hold on that he would reset my account so that I could get more calls from all over Nigeria.
“Then I got a text with a code from Google on my phone. Ordinarily, this should have set off alarm bells in my head. But at that particular moment, I was hurrying to get somewhere, so when he said I should tell him the code, I didn’t think ,much of it.
“He then said I should not log in to my Jiji account for the next 48 hours to make the changes he’ll be making effective.
“It was after about two hours that I realised I had been signed out of my Gmail account, and my other accounts including Jiji.ng.
“I was in my office when I realised this, and I became panicky immediately.
“I didn’t know what he wanted. I was just shouting ‘My account has been hacked! My account has been hacked!! My account has been hacked!!!’
“My initial thought was to call my bank to block all my accounts. What made me not to do this, and got me thinking properly was the fact that I had to make a payment worth some amount of money immediately. If I had called my bank to block my accounts, I would not be able to.
“After snapping out of panic mode, I took necessary steps and my Gmail account. He was in control for just over two hours. However, within that short period, he did enormous damage.
“After regaining control of my Gmail, I quickly sent a mail to Jiji to alert them.
“Within two hours of being in control, using my Jiji account, the fraudster had posted several ads meant to entice buyers looking for bargains, in order to defraud them. One of the ads was entitled “Clean Volkswagen Golf3 1999 Red”. He offered it for N380,000
“He made several of such fraudulent ads within a short period that Jiji had to ban my account.
“Please, I would appreciate whatever help to track down this man and make him face the music.
“As I write this, my account is still banned on Jiji, and my business is suffering.
Thanks!”
I am a victim too this number contacted me 08103560386 on 24th December. Several mails sent to support@jiji proved abortive as I have waited tirelessly for JiJi’s manager’s call. It is too bad JiJi does not have a customer care number to help out, this is a leverage hackers use. My subscription money keeps wasting over 2 weeks now.