Isioma Madike 
They are young and target female Point of Sale (PoS) operators in the “Centre of Excellence” with simple but sophisticated scamming antics. While some people argue that the fraudsters usually hypnotise their victims, others believe they apply tricks that destabilise their targets.
Their modus operandi is the same; ask for cash in exchange for a transfer.
In some instances, their victims are lured into a pre-arranged abode where they act as managers or owners of the business to sweet talk their prey into parting with their cash. They sometimes also deposit some empty items to deceive their targets.
A young lady of about 23 years of age, who identified herself only as Precious, became a victim of this new fraud around 6pm on September 9, at her kiosk on Allen Avenue, Lagos State.
According to Precious, the young man, who should be around 25 to 27 years of age, came to her kiosk close to Alade Market, claiming his boss wanted to deposit N370,000.
“I was short of cash at the time, so I followed him to the nearby Tantalizer shop opposite my PoS position. He showed me a bundle of money wrapped in nylon and asked me to transfer the funds. I was hesitant, but he insisted I try again when the first transfer didn’t work. He then gave me an O’Pay account number, which I used to transfer the money.
“The money in my account wasn’t up to N370, 000, so, I had to transfer N330,000 to the account he provided. After the transfer, he claimed he needed to get me a nose mask before I could see his ‘boss’ (a white man as he claimed) and would be right back. He was wearing a nose mask as well.
“I waited between five and 10 minutes before realising I’d been scammed. I asked the sales girls at the eatery, and they told me he had ordered food but didn’t pay and even lied about me being his sister. I quickly went to the O’Pay office, but they said they couldn’t help since I used a PalmPay PoS machine.
“I then rushed to PalmPay, but they were closed. However, a staff member who did not identify himself, promised to help but his efforts did not yield any result. At one point, the ‘Good Samaritan’ started avoiding me.
“When I discovered this, I felt he might have been warned by his employers and I had to back off, instead of putting him in trouble,” Precious said.
She added: “A few days later, some people advised me to report the incident to the police, which I did. This became necessary because PalmPay at one point asked for a police report to enable them to follow up.
“At the Area F Police Command where I had gone to lodge the complaint, I was asked to produce an affidavit before I could be attended to. I immediately rushed to the Ikeja High Court to obtain one and submitted it to them.
“But, before the man assigned to my case could listen to me, he asked for N20,000 as the report fee. He got annoyed and ordered me out of the station when I reminded him that a police report is supposed to be free.
“Sensing that none of the policemen was ready to help, I started begging and negotiating; at the end we settled for N8, 000. Even at that, I had only N5,000 with me and I had to source for additional N3,000 to make it up.
“I then took the report to O’Pay but they refused to accept it from me, directing me instead to PalmPay, which they said should be the one to send official messages regarding the case. I did as instructed but it soon became obvious the two digital banks were playing games with me.
“However, someone who heard what happened came to me, asked if I could recognise the scammer and I gave a positive reply. She showed me a picture and it happened to be that of the same person who duped me.
“She then told me that the man had been arrested and taken to Area F Police Command, Ikeja. She advised me to rush to Area F to see if the police could help get my money.
“Sadly, it turned out to be another round of dribbling. Initially, the policeman I met pretended to be helping. I was made to write an official statement for documentation after which they said they’d call me, but they never did.
“Before I left the command, I showed them the man’s picture and they agreed to have arrested him four months earlier.
“The police Investigation Officer (IPO) assigned to me also admitted that the man had been arrested and brought to the command on many occasions. He however refused to disclose his name to me (he was always on mufti each time I met him) but he told me they saw a huge amount in the scammer’s account during investigation and interrogation.
“Though he did not tell me what happened to the money in his account.
“He also confirmed that the lady who gave me the scammer’s picture was one of his victims. He said they recovered her money and that of three other victims. Incidentally, all the four persons police recovered their money were duped of N350, 000 as well.
“But the shocker came when the same policeman told me the man had been released and that if I needed my money I should trace and arrest him and bring him back to the command. I told him it was an impossible task but he responded by saying that was the only way he could help me.
“And because another policeman had told me they allegedly collected 10% from the other ladies when they recovered their money, I begged him to accept such an incentive but that could not persuade him to change his mind.”
However, Precious’ was not an isolated case. Loveth was another victim. Her’s happened around Easter period, on March 29, to be precise. She was duped at 115 Awolowo Road, Ikeja, where she has her shop.
The fraudster collected N350,000 at an arranged shop opposite his store. The shop occupants relocated from there almost immediately, fueling suspicions that the man may not have acted alone.
Two other girls were with the guy at the time Loveth made the transfer. She was able to identify the scammer as Francis Ibukun from Ojota area of Lagos State. She was given his name at the Area F, Ikeja, when he was caught and detained at the command.
She heard that the man was arrested where he had gone to dupe another person; he was caught at the Domino Pizza Restaurant on Toyin Street, near St Leo Catholic church and taken to Area F Command where he was detained.
Loveth, who recalled her ordeal in the hand of the scammer, said: “I was informed that he was handed over to the police at Area F, on a Tuesday evening of that week and by the time I got there on Thursday morning, he had been freed.
“I was reliably told by a police source that a huge sum of money was found in his account and the police made him to refund the four people that brought him to the station after they allegedly collected 10% from them and an unspecified amount from the suspect before letting him off the hook.
“He came to meet me where I was doing my business and asked me to follow him to the opposite supermarket along Awolowo Road, Ikeja, after sweet talking me into believing him. He told me he was the manager of the supermarket and the ladies we met there pretended to be his workers.
“They were checking what they wanted to buy. The man told me he wanted N370, 000 cash for what they wanted to buy, promising to transfer the equivalent sum instantly. I fell for his tricks but only gave out N350,000 that I had with me.
“I was introduced to one Inspector Eric at the command who promised to help me. Unfortunately, nothing happened as he began to evade me at one point. It was quite frustrating and after a while, I had to accept my fate and let it go.
“But, that incident taught me a great lesson as I’m more careful in dealing with customers now, especially young men.”
Madam Dupe, who has her cabin in front of Ojota Motor Park, is another victim. She told this reporter that the criminal walked up to her and demanded N58,000, which he said he would transfer to me as he needed the case for his journey. He pretended to be one of the passengers travelling to Ife at the park. The story did not make any sense to Dupe who asked for his ATM card for withdrawal instead.
“So, I slotted his ATM card to withdraw the amount, but it declined. The response was ‘exceeded withdrawal limit’. I then asked him if he had withdrawn from his card earlier and he answered yes.
“He claimed to have withdrawn N42,000 earlier that day. But, I thought since it’s his savings account, his limit would be at least N120,000 for a day.
“So, I tried again and it was still unsuccessful. By this time he had talked me into believing him and we renegotiated how much my service charge was, and he paid me without much haggle.
“Then he attempted calling and I could hear him telling his ‘contractor’ that he couldn’t buy all the goods he came to buy based on the fact that he had exceeded his withdrawal limit, and again he started murmuring on how he would return to his far destination without buying all the goods he came for.
“This time around he did a fake transfer, and he was debited, but I was not credited. After about five minutes, he asked me to hold his ATM card and he dropped something that was in a carton, and asked me to keep those two items in my custody to allow him to go pay for the goods he bought. It never occurred to me that he had swapped the card.
“I agreed, and told him to give me his telephone number, he obliged and left. That was how he scammed me, and left with my N58,000. After two hours when I didn’t see him, I opened the carton of goods he kept with me, and lo and behold it was pieces of small woods stuck inside a fine new carton of LG home theatre. I called his number only to hear it switched off. Up till this moment, that line never came up again,” Dupe said.
Another victim, who gave her name as Ndidi, was scammed in the Ogba area of Lagos, opposite the Area G Police Command. Her experience was when a customer, a network marketer, came to her to help transfer to his account so he could use it to buy some products which he needed so urgently.
He tricked her into believing that there was an error while trying to do so using his Mobile App as the bank service was poor at that moment. He made her believe that the transaction wasn’t successful, and since he was in haste and she had other customers to attend to, she had to return his money so he could try somewhere else.
“That was my undoing; little did I know that the transaction was successful as I later received a debit alert from my bank for the same transaction I assumed to have failed. There was no way I could contact the customer. So, I went to my bank to complain, but was told the transaction was successful.
“I had hoped to see the customer come back to acknowledge it, but he didn’t, even after obvious confirmation from his bank that he did receive value for the transaction. I had to learn from my mistake, count my losses and move on. It’s one of the hazards of this ‘hustle.’ But whatever gave the man the courage to scam me in front of Area Command remains a puzzle till this day,” Ndidi noted.
Police refuse to talk
Attempt to speak with the police at the Area F Command, Ikeja, was not successful as this reporter met a stone wall. When he asked to see the Crime Officer of the command or to see the Area commander, the police officer at the entrance of the station, after due enquiry, simply directed the reporter to the state Command as, according to him, “only the PPRO is authorised to speak to the press”.
It was the same thing at the Area G Police Command, Ogba. Responding to the reporter rather politely, the two police men at the entrance of the command cautiously directed the reporter to go speak with the State PPRO.
“I wish we could talk to you. But, you see, there is a rule in police that only the PPRO should handle matters relating to the media. You can call or visit him, I believe he would be glad to speak to you to clear your doubts,” one of the policemen said.
However, a call put through to the known number of the State PPRO was not answered nor returned. Another whatsApp message sent to the line was not responded to as well.
Digital banks play hide and seek
At the offices of both the O’Pay and PalmPay, this reporter was tossed around without any of the two digital banks willing to take responsibility. While a man, who refused to give his name at the O’Pay office, said it’s the problem of PalmPay, those at the PalmPay directed the reporter back to O’Pay.
After two visits, the O’Pay security guard, who claimed the officer the reporter wanted to see was on leave, said the victims had been instructed on what to do.
He asked the reporter to approach the police which should properly follow up on the cases. The PalmPay security man on duty at the time of this reporter’s visit simply asked that the reporter return in two weeks’ time, but that nothing could be guaranteed.
