By NAN

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has urged the public to be vigilant and avoid dealing with scam artists who pose as recruitment agents for the service.

This is contained in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja by Mr Johannes Wojuola, Special Assistant on Media and Communication to the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Muhammad Nami.

“On repeated occasions, the FIRS has cautioned the general public to be vigilant and circumspect not to deal with scam artists who pose as recruitment agents for the Service and collect huge sums of money from unsuspecting victims with the promise to provide them employment.

“Again, the Management of the FIRS wishes to caution the public to be wary of these employment scam artists.

“The Service wishes to emphatically state that it is not conducting any recruitment at the moment, and importantly that it does not conduct recruitment exercises through back door channels.

“Should FIRS at any instance have need to expand its workforce and consequently seek to recruit competent hands to carry out the task of revenue mobilisation for the nation, the public can be rest assured that the Service would follow appropriate channels and processes in doing so.

” This includes advertisements on public channels of communication, followed by rigorous screening, interviews and examination exercises.

“The FIRS also wishes to caution media practitioners not to allow their mediums to be used as platforms for publishing unauthorised fake application processes and recruitment portals that hoodwink the unsuspecting public,” the statement said.

It added that FIRS would take all necessary legal actions against any platform found to be engaged in such fraudulent advertisement.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some Nigerians groan over fraudulent elements who defraud graduates seeking for jobs.