The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has recorded a major breakthrough in investigating suspected job scammers using the cyber space to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

The Service said the suspected scammers took advantage of the 2009 and 2012 recruitment exercise it conducted to continue defrauding members of the public, using fake domain such as "Nigeriacustomsservice.net," and "nigeriacustomsservice.info," to conduct the fake recruitments.

They were also said to have allegedly opened various fake facebook accounts in the name of the Comptroller-General of Customs to further deceive job seekers.

Parading the suspects at the Customs Headquarters in Abuja yesterday, the Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Headquarters, Tahir Musa, told journalists that the painstaking investigation to crack the syndicate was conducted with the Services' forensic experts in collaboration with experts in Canada and the United States.

He also acknowledged the high level support given the Service by the Chairman of ICPC, Ekpo Nta, who seconded his operatives to participate in the over three months period investigation.

He said preliminary investigation revealed that the website and facebook accounts were masterminded by one Umoh Moses also known as Prince Moses and Prince Umoh, who was arrested alongside three other suspects whose names were given as Obinwanne Donatus, Abua Steve and Duru Chidi.

The suspects were found to be operating a company known as BIIS located at no. 11, Tetlow Road, Owerri, Imo State, while the fake site were hosted by an Ibadan-based company known as Skyskay System Limited, with one Kayode Abiodun Ogundele as the alleged mastermind.

According to Musa, forensic experts operating from the US and Canada also found the involvement of a commercial bank where an account was opened using the name "Customs Wuse," domiciled in Aba, Abia State, which was used to defraud the job seekers.

"A manager of the bank with four other staff were arrested for high-level collusion and failure to discharge their obligations of 'Know Your Customer (KYC).' Five laptops, five mobile phone sets and a central processing unit were retrieved from the suspects for further forensic analysis to determine the extent of their involvement in this crime," Musa said.