DPR alerts oil marketers of imposters

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has disclosed that its regulatory integrity is currently being threatened by activities of persons who now parade themselves as officials of the agency to extort and defraud operators of filling stations in the country.

DPR stated in Abuja that the new practice came from the recent challenges in the downstream petroleum sector which resulted in short supply of petrol across the country.

It thus cautioned operators of filling stations and other marketers against falling victims of such phantom DPR officials, adding that such acts are desperate attempts to desecrate the integrity of the agency.

Spokesperson of DPR, Mohammed Saidu said that some fraudulent persons have cashed in on the fuel scarcity situation to defraud some unsuspecting marketers, thereby causing overpricing of fuel in some areas.

“The outcome of this scarcity has caused us a lot where people now parade themselves and go to filing stations extorting money from marketers in the name of DPR,” he said.

He further explained that the alleged fraudsters were going around filling stations telling marketers that they could sell at any amount they wanted as long as they ‘settle them’ (fake officials).

“That is why we are still having this problem of over pricing in some of the suburb areas within the Federal Capital Territory,” Saidu stated.

Saidu however maintained that DPR officers on regulatory enforcement assignments to any operator’s base have always gone kitted with all the legal markings and signs such as official vehicles clearly marked with ‘DPR’ and other means of identifications.

According to him all marketers are supposed to know this because, “we don’t allow our officials to go to filing stations with their personal vehicles.”

“No DPR officer will go out on an official assignment without hanging his or her identity card and once you are not with your identity card, you are not representing DPR,” he added.

Saidu further said that the fraudster did not even stop at that but also created a parallel website with that of the DPR, claiming that DPR was recruiting for ExxonMobil.

According to him, “They went to the extent of collecting money from those unsuspecting Nigerians.
They created an account where such monies are paid to and we have a lot of unsuspecting Nigerians who came with tellers claiming to come and get their money back.”

“There were a lot fake appointment letters from Chevron, Mobil and so on. We want to warn Nigerians that before they deal with DPR, make sure you are dealing with the right officials who should identify himself,” he said.

He said that DPR had written to all the multinationals and also issued a counter claim and part of it is to also to sensitise Nigerians on how to deal with those criminals, adding, “we are working closely with relevant security agencies to track and bring to book all those behind these nefarious activities.”

[ThisDay]