BEWARE PARENTS, YOUR CHILDREN MAY HAVE FALLEN INTO THE TRAP OF MR. FRANK!
I saw the confusion on my brother’s face. His behaviour in the past few days can only be described as mischievous. Just minutes ago, while entering our compound, Iya Bose the recharge card seller near our house called me to ask for the one thousand three hundred naira which Matthew (my brother) promised I will pay her when I get back from work.
He had even gone to the bank in the morning to reactivate his dormant bank account. He then proceeded to my mother’s shop, initially collecting a thousand naira and then came back to collect another one thousand, which he claimed was needed urgently but gave no valid reason for it. Having never done such a thing before, my mum was both suspicious and concerned and therefore called my immediate younger brother, Elisha who fortunately was not on duty at his work place. She wanted him to keep an eye on Matthew for her. According to mum, he was panting and shaking and looked really desperate as he asked her for the sum.
Still pondering what he could have collected the recharge cards on credit in my name for, I called out to him from his room and demanded an explanation. He initially lied that it was for data subscription for his android phone. But his story did not hold water partly because he had just 10mb left on his phone and then the cards (MTN) were for a network different from the one he is using (Etisalat).
As I questioned him, mum came in. Meanwhile, Elisha was also asking him questions, demanding credible explanation. It was like an FBI interrogation scene in a Hollywood movie! After probing him further, he came up with another lie that the credit was used to call his friends. His call log suggested otherwise!
We had initially though he could be gambling or probably hoffing. This would have been much worse. After we established he wasn’t gambling or smoking hemp, we probed further, pleading with him to justify the money he collected and the need for recharge cards.
He eventually caved in and confessed he has been sending the cards to one Mr. Frank, who claim to be part of the 2go Team currently ‘rewarding’ longtime users of the social media application for their loyalty. No wonder he (Mathew) went to reactivate his dormant account this morning!
I collected Frank’s number (07066882076) and called him, pretending to be a lucky winner. He congratulated me and asked for my winning code. I gave him the code which he had given to my brother (5056). He then said I won 200,000 naira and I will need to come to Abuja 2go head office to collect my price but gave me the option of sending my bank account details and a processing fee of 400 naira which should be in form of 400naira MTN recharge voucher to be sent through text. He promptly ended the call, probably to attend to other ‘lucky’ winners.
I did not understand the depth of debt this guy had plunged my brother into until another recharge card seller in the area came to recover another debt worth 1600 naira. I checked my brother’s messages and saw he had sent over 4000 naira recharge cards to Frank!
My advice to parents is that they should keep an eye on their children. There are certainly thousands of Mathews out there falling for Frank’s pranks. It is very disturbing that he is targeting a social platform (2go) which is mainly used by adolescents. These boys and girls are highly impressionable and gullible. Who knows if kidnappers, rapists, pedophiles and ritual killers are also using this platform to carry out their heinous acts.
It is shameful that many of these kids are obsessed with money and material things and these leeches feed on their greed. Many children gamble to earn quick bucks. I know some that are as young as eleven years old who are involved sports betting.
The time some kids spend on social media is alarming. This no doubt contributes in no small way to the decline in academic performance. Parents should spend more time with their kids and monitor their activities closely.
Government should step up efforts to apprehend Frank and his cohorts by empowering law enforcement agents with the much needed technological resources that will aid them to capture these criminals. There is also need to regulate the sports betting business. Many children have become addicted to it. In my opinion, anyone under the age of eighteen should not be involved


Abidemi Agbaje Ikorodu, Lagos
Agbaje_bidemi@yahoo.com

Moderator Abeg front page!!!!

I hope parents can learn from this. There are fraudstars out there preying on young people. May God help us.

owoeye2:
I hope parents can learn from this. There are fraudstars out there preying on young people. May God help us.

amen o

my point is very simple and straight forward. Scammers would only scam greedy people. If you are greedy and like to reap from where you did not sow, you are an easy target of fraudsters, Con artists etc

bennyrazz:
my point is very simple and straight forward. Scammers would only scam greedy people. If you are greedy and like to reap from where you did not sow, you are an easy target of fraudsters, Con artists etc

seconded. Some people are just dumb. How can u reap were u did not sow?

bennyrazz, you nailed it. Greedy people are the most that fall victims. parent have a long way in making their kids not greedy right from their tender age. May God help all of us that are parents to guide our kids right.

callola:
seconded. Some people are just dumb. How can u reap were u did not sow?

get rich quick syndrome is the cause . A lot of people suffer from it and @ dhabeautyjas you are right