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Fake “Nathaniel F. McGill” busted

Fraudster fakes Nathaniel McGill information in money laundering scam

A 419 scammer has been busted in what appears to be a money-laundering scam implicating State and Presidential Affairs Minister Nathaniel Falo McGill.

The individual real name yet to be established attempted to use a fake identity with the name of McGill fully spelled out on the ID with an MTN number purporting to be the minister.

The alleged fraudster had opened a mobile money account using the fake ID to fraudulently ask unsuspecting individuals to remit money to the said account. He also uses another fake working ID card from a non-existing company-Universal Empowerment Mission as he goes about dubbing his victims.

McGill explained that he raise the alarm upon being notified because of the implication that the situation would have brought on his reputation.

He said he has alerted the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA} and security agencies through the Ministry of Justice. The name of the minister is fully registered on the fraudster’s sim card and the remittance platform of the Lone Star GSM network.

McGill stated that one of the incidents involved someone who registered a sim card with the number 0881471147 using his name on the Lone Star Mobile Money platform and has been asking people to remit money to it.

Failed transactions

A series of screenshots shared with this paper, the alleged fraudster was soliciting from people to send LRD 4444 to the number and to reference the number 21979.

 The second incident involved an individual also using his name on a fake identification card of a non-existent company, Universal Empowerment Missions, with the designation as monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) officer with the company which according to its address, is located in Kpelle Town, ELWA Community, Paynesville.

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The alleged criminal exhibits of the perpetrator are presently in the possession of the state security through the Ministry of Justice according to Minister McGill.

Although McGill argued that he was not sure if the alleged fraudsters have succeeded in defrauding people by using his name, he is taking the action to avert the intent of those behind the scam. 

Identity theft is not new. Fraudsters around the world normally target high profile personalities-businessman, politicians, celebrities, etc using identity theft to defraud steal money from the bank accounts or debit cards.

 “Normally these kinds of transactions have two intentions. One is to steal and the other is to target a very important person just to blackmail. Just imagine hearing such very negative news that Minister McGill is involved in money laundering. God forbid, this could be the intention of those guys”, one official said.

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NewDawn

The New Dawn is Liberia’s Truly Independent Newspaper Published by Searchlight Communications Inc. Established on November 16, 2009, with its first hard copy publication on January 22, 2010. The office is located on UN Drive in Monrovia Liberia. The New Dawn is bilingual (both English & French).
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