Smarting from the realization that he has been a major target of a seeming coordinated misinformation campaign against him with the view of smearing his name and injuring his thriving political career, former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel Farlo McGill, has condemned in no small term the ill-intent of some faceless individuals to open fake social media accounts such as Facebook and Whatsapp and operate the same in his name. McGill then assured that “we are working to ensure that those pages are taken down”.
The former Minister’s reaction was contained through a succinct post he made on his official Facebook account which signal an alarm of the existence and proliferation of fake accounts created in his name with his photos by some faceless individuals with criminal intent.
“Please be informed that there are fake Facebook and WhatSapp accounts being opened in my name. The contents on those pages do not represent my person. We are working to ensure that those pages are taken down,” he said.
Checks on some of the pages showed that those behind the fake accounts use the actual photos and other information about McGill to portray the authenticity of the profiles, and have been using these profiles to perpetuate various kinds of criminal activities such as fraudulent solicitation of money in exchange for favor which, according to them, would come from McGill, posting of inciting statements to launch attacks on high profile individuals in the country, that may cause chaos and disharmony, among others, in the country.
Further checks also show that the real and authentic profile of McGill bears his name, “Hon. Nathaniel F. McGill”, with a profile photo seeing him sporting a red T-Shirt, a red cap and a pair of light blue jeans trousers walking majestically with supporters behind him. The cover photo page has his short photo dressed with a white shirt, a red necktie and a navy blue jacket, which has faint lines of white colors and an inscription of year 2023, the flag of Margibi County and Team McGill.
The post from the senatorial hopeful of Margibi County was greeted with mixed reactions, with most of the people who commented under it expressing dismay and wondering why would people be so evil as to craft a sinister plan against an innocent person.
“You need to be careful, Mr. McGill. You have a lot of people who want to see you fall to the ground, and they don’t want to see anything good coming for you,” said Jerry M Fahnbulleh Jr., while Alfred Togbah lambasted those behind the act, “This is bad politics. Why create pseudo accounts to defame a person? Total nonsense.”
“But the man is not begging you to believe. It is just to inform the public that there are fake accounts in his name. Thank you,” said Thomas Mannah, in response to someone who had said he had less concern in the situation, though acknowledging that it was criminal to do that against McGill.
While there has been rave comments from a lot people to express displeasure on the wave of social media fraud against McGill, some others called on him to immediately create some safeguards though admitting that it is a challenge to stop or curtail individuals from creating fake accounts in the name of prominent individuals like politicians and celebrities.
“My candid advice to the Honorable man is for him to create a verified account on social media which will clearly show the difference between the real account that he operates and the fake ones being created and operated by faceless individuals with sinister motives, otherwise he should be prepared to always issue rebuttal, especially now that he is in the race for the senatorial seat in Margibi next year,” said Armah Zito Quiah III, a Cyber Security expert.
It can be recalled that McGill sometime ago raised the alarm of some individuals using his name and position to defraud people using various means, and had put the public on alert to be wary of those people. It has not been reported if any arrest was made, thus heightening concerns among his supporters , associates and well wishers on how best to combat this dangerous trend.
The action taken by him so far to ensure that those accounts are brought down will go a long way in minimizing, if not eradicating, this scourge on his name and reputation.