A criminologist at the University of Ibadan, Dr Oludayo Tade, has alerted the public on a new loan recovery scam reportedly being used in defrauding Nigerians.

Mr Tade raised the alarm in a statement entitled “Loan Recovery Scam: A New Strategy for Fraud,” issued on Sunday in Ibadan.

According to him, text messages are being sent to some people from a fictitious bank claiming that they have been named as guarantors for certain loans purportedly taken by others.

“The story will then be that the guarantor must ensure that the loan procurer pays back or a legal case will be instituted against him/her,” he explained.

The criminologist noted that such messages were being crafted in such a way that the recipients would be put under pressure to call the senders who would eventually dupe them.

He also noted that the fraud messages were usually composed to threaten the receivers that the police would be involved in the matter, with a view to compelling them to call the senders.

Mr Tade advised Nigerians, who had received such messages, to simply ignore them since they did not stand as guarantors for any loan to anyone.

He also urged them to simply ignore or delete such messages or report to the police in order to move against the fraud syndicate.

“Do not panic to the extent of calling them. If you are worried, inform the police. Do not allow fraudsters to play a fast one on you by mounting unnecessary pressure,” he said.

(NAN)