Federal Civil Service Commission not recruiting as claimed in viral WhatsApp message
By Faith Adeoye
CLAIM: A viral post on WhatsApp is asking Nigerians to apply for the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) vacancies via a website.
VERDICT: The information circulating on WhatsApp that the FCSC is now recruiting, via a certain link, is false. The website is found to be fraudulent.
FULL STORY: A viral post on WhatsApp claims the Federal Civil Service Commission is currently looking for candidates to fill vacant positions in some ministries and department agencies.
The forward-as-received message attempts to direct readers to this website using a free URL shortener, bit.ly.
The post reads: “FEDERAL CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION FCSC RECRUITMENT VACCANCIES ANNOUNCEMENT.
Application are hereby invited from suitable qualified candidates to fill the limited vacant position in the following ministries, department agencies
>federal ministry of finance
>federal ministry of information
>the federal ministry of transport
>federal ministry of education
> federal ministry of finance
>federal ministry of power and work
>federal ministry of science and technology
> ministry of foreign affair
>general for federation
> ministry of trade and investment
> Officer of the surveyor
> officer of the auditor
Apply Here
https://bit.ly/apply-civil-servant-2021
Note: For the avoidance of doubt, the completion/submission of applications is FREE and at no cost to applicants.
Signed by:
FOLASHADE MAJEBI
Head of Nigeria Civil Servant.”
A screenshot of the forwarded-as-received message
After clicking the provided link, the user is directed to http://www.civil-service.xyz/, a page that request the user’s information, announcing:
“Federal government CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION VACANCIES ANNOUNCEMENT Applications are hereby invited from suitable qualified candidates to fill the limited vacant position in the following Ministries, Department and Agencies. APPLY NOW
“This Federal Government Re-cruitment Program is Available to only NIGERIAN YOUTH So Far, 134101 Nigerians Have listed already. You Can Also Check Your Name Now. CHECK NOW and Follow Instructions.”
To complete the registration, the user will have to provide full name, state, Gmail, password and phone number.
Findings by Dubawa shows that the Federal Civil Service Commission of Nigeria (FCSC) is an executive body in Nigeria that has the authority to make appointments and transfers, and to exercise disciplinary control over all federal civil servants.
The Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) is responsible for the following; representation of the civil service commissioners at senior staff committee meetings of ministries, review and approval of recommendations on disciplinary cases of senior officers, recruitment of senior officers, ratification of promotion of offices to senior positions, including conducting promotion interviews and exams, hearing appeals on matters of appointment, promotion and disciplines, providing guidelines on appointments, promotions and discipline.
VERIFICATION
Checks on the message showed that it contained grammatical error and irregular capitalisation of certain letters that cast doubts on its authenticity. Vacancies was wrongfully spelt as “Vaccancies” When Dubawa accessed the website, the logo was similar to the FCSC logo.
Dubawa provided a wrong name, state, gmail, phone number inorder to access the other pages of the form.
A screenshot of the landing page of the website
The second page reads: “congratulations You have been selected to benefit from the civil servant Re-cruitment from the Federal gorvernemnt. Answer the following questions to get credited immediately!
What is your Qualification Status?
What Is Your Marrital Status?
Choose Your Age Range?
A screenshot showing the cloned Facebook post
This reporter was thereafter asked to share the information with 15 friends or five groups in order to get the application letter, a cloned Facebook post, which shows beneficiaries testifying on how real the project is, can also be seen.
The notification reads: “After considering your answers, your application letter will be sent to your registered email -You will receive applicantion letter after the procedures, kindly click the “Invite Friends/Group” button below to share this information with 15 friends or 5 groups on WhatsApp so That They Can Aslo Benefit.
“After sending the invitation, click the ” Proceed to get application letter” button:
“Note: If you do not complete this step correctly, you will not get your application sent to you.”
Further analysis using Domainbigdata, a web tool used to look for the website ownership information, showed that the website was created on June 26, 2021(Eight days old)with the IP geolocation United States, California, Emeryville.
Dubawa, thereafter, checked the official website of FCSC, www.fedcivilservice.gov.ng, and the organisation’s social media handles to see if it posted anything on the vacancies, but found nothing.
Dubawa contacted the agency via the website but is still awaiting a response.
Dubawa also conducted a search on Folasade Majebi, the acclaimed Head of Nigeria Civil Servant, who purportedly signed the message but found nothing.
FCSC recruitment process
Further checks show that the commission debunked a similar claim in 2019 stating that it only advertises vacancies on newspapers and its website www.fedcivilservice.gov.ng.
According to an advertisement published by a news platform, Vanguard, in 2017, applicants are usually asked to submit their application via https://vacancy.fedcivilservice.gov.ng/ or send their application form in a sealed envelope stating the ministry, the post applied for and addressed to the Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, 4 Abidjan Street, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja.
CONCLUSION
The information circulating on WhatsApp that the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) is now recruiting via a certain link is false. The website is found to be fraudulent.
The researcher produced this fact-check per the Dubawa 2021 Kwame KariKari Fellowship partnership with The Nigerian Tribune to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.
Credit: Tribune
