I have been a pretty active member of nairaland forum since 2013 and I have come across different kinds of scams, dishonesty, fraud, customer dissatisfaction, broad day light robbery and the nonchalant attitude of dealers towards customers satisfaction on this forum.
A lot of things are responsible for all these and I have sat down, thought for a while and now, I am here with a solution which will put an ultimate stop to all these petty fraud here and there on NL.

I am not here to sell any e-book or promote my blog so I will just go straight to the point

HOW THE SCAM LOOKS LIKE
Mr. A is in Edo and Mr. B is in Lagos. Mr. B wants to sell an IPhone and Mr. A wants to buy the iPhone so they strike a deal. Mr. A sends Mr. B the because he has promised to send the phone (way bill) to Edo state once he gets the money. Once Mr A sends the money, Mr. B starts telling Mr. A stories upon stories and eventually, he (Mr. B) refuses to send the phone to Edo state despite the fact that Mr. A has paid fully for it oo.
Mr. A then comes to NL and creates a thread and then the circle goes on and on.

Another Case
Mr. Brown wants to buy a camera from Mr. Smith who is in Abuja. Mr. Brown later gets an entirely different camera from Mr. Smith who is in Aba.
When Mr. Brown complains, he gets blocked on whatsapp and all social media by Mr. Brown! Did I forget to mention Mr. Brown also stopped picking his (Mr. Smith) calls?

And what about the guys who got scammed trying to purchase adsense and Facebook page?


In all these and many more, there is no buyer protection! The buyer is at the mercy of the seller who may decide to scam him and go scot free. Phewwwwww
But with this simple and effective proposal which I am willing to test run right here, all these will become a thing of the past so stay tuned fellas

What if there is a Mr. C in all these deals? What if the Mr. C stands as a bridge between Mr. A and Mr. B, would it have been possible for Mr. B to scam Mr. A? The answer is NO!!

Who is Mr. C?
Mr. C is a neutral fellow with a reputation worth millions of dollars, a guy trusted and tested. Someone well known by all; with a clean sheet record and a hater of all forms of fraud. Mr. C could be in form of a secured website or an individual (I would love to be Mr. C) who stands in between Mr. A and Mr. B just incase any of them choose to go AWOL.
HOW DOES IT REALLY WORK?
Now, Mr. A would not pay directly to Mr. B, he would pay to Mr. C and ask Mr. B to confirm the payment. The money for the iPhone is with neither of them (Mr. A or Mr. B) at this junction. For the money to get to Mr. B (iPhone seller), Mr. B has to ship the phone to Mr. A. When the shipment gets to Mr. A, he checks very well and confirms the overall status of the phone and confirms everything works. He then gives the "go" word to Mr. C (the middle man), who then sends the IPhone money to Mr. B and every goes home happy and no one comes to NL wailing with threads upon threads.

This my look stupid and infeasible at first but hey! Sit down, take a minute and think about it!
* Dealers will be forced to think customer first with this system because you can easily call-off the deal with good reasons or evidence of an impeding fraud.
* Dealers will be forced to be more cautious and respectful because the buyer can easily call-off the deal.
* If the buyer is not satisfied with the product, he sends it back to the dealer and gets his money back.
* The whole deal boils down to the integrity of the middle man who shall provide his address and NATION ID for easy tracking just in case he chooses to renegade.

Just sit down and imagine the advantages and how it eliminates a lot of potential fraud loop holes.

Mynd44 lasasticlala seun dominique ferano how una see am
I will be back with the downsides
A

Some people are born thieves and scammers and they will do everything to by pass this system.

Sometimes it may be the buyer! After receiving the product they may claim the product did not get to them in order to get a refund from the middle man. It is now the duty of the middle to run a background check and that's why I will advice the middle man to get the number of the logistics company (preferably, the driver's number) in order to confirm the package was delivered to the right person. To the middle man, always involve yourself in the shipping process in order to ensure each package get to their destination before you payout.

In some other case, a scammer may pose as legitimate seller. The seller may even recommend a middle man who is also a part of the elaborate scam. Once you pay into the middle man's account, the middle man and the fake seller then disappear! Remember I mentioned something about National IDs and residential address of middle men? Well, it's so important that you just don't want to joke with it.
This same tactics can also be used by a potential buyer who proposes a fake middle man for the deal. When you (the seller) sends the goods, the buyer and fake middle man disappears!
To cut the long story short, the legitimacy and workability of this system, lies on the shoulder of the middle man. So source for your middle man wisely.

Personally, I would love the admin of this forum to scrutinize this proposal, and if eventually it makes any sense to them, I would love to be tested as the first Mr. C of Nairaland. This would let us test the workability of this system.

A smart coder or web developer can even come up with an automated system (an online platform) that can replicate the duties of "Mr. C".
I would love to hear your opinion my fellow Nairlanders.
cc mynd44
Seun
Ferano
Dominique
lalasticlala

This is not a bad idea at all.

The only issue is finding the very reliable Mr Cs who wouldn't mind monitoring the logistics to confirm delivery.

But even so I know my 419 countrymen at the buyer end will still find a way to get refunds for packages they received.

nothalfbaked:
This is not a bad idea at all.

The only issue is finding the very reliable Mr Cs who wouldn't mind monitoring the logistics to confirm delivery.

But even so I know my 419 countrymen at the buyer end will still find a way to get refunds for packages they received.

I have volunteered to be the middle man to see how feasible this system can be. But both parties will pay a fee of just 2huns once the deal pulls through

Lol. All this story you should have just said Nairaland needs an escrow service.
You cannot be this escrow. Who you be? No individual can. It has to be integrated Into Nairaland itself as an automated service to inspire any form of trust.

aIIkae:
Lol. All this story you should have just said Nairaland needs an escrow service.
You cannot be this escrow. Who you be? No individual can. It has to be integrated Into Nairaland itself as an automated service to inspire any form of trust.

Remember, not everyone is as tech savvy as you. I have broken everything down even for a bush man from Namibia to understand. Remember it's just an idea and more input like yours will go a long way in curbing fraud on NL. I think you also skipped that part I talked about an online platform.

IAmSkinny:

Remember, not everyone is as tech savvy as you. I have broken everything down even for a bush man from Namibia to understand. Remember it's just an idea and more input like yours will go a long way in curbing fraud on NL. I think you also skipped that part I talked about an online platform.

This is offensive to Namibians. You should apologise.

The is a very nice idea and I really appreciate the fact that someone is willing to act on the numerous frauds going on in this forum. However, ths plan still has a lot of moving parts.

Case Study:

IAmSkinny:
What if there is a Mr. C in all these deals? What if the Mr. C stands as a bridge between Mr. A and Mr. B, would it have been possible for Mr. B to scam Mr. A? The answer is NO!!

Who is Mr. C?
Mr. C is a neutral fellow with a reputation worth millions of dollars, a guy trusted and tested. Someone well known by all; with a clean sheet record and a hater of all forms of fraud. Mr. C could be in form of a secured website or an individual (I would love to be Mr. C) who stands in between Mr. A and Mr. B just incase any of them choose to go AWOL.
HOW DOES IT REALLY WORK?
Now, Mr. A would not pay directly to Mr. B, he would pay to Mr. C and ask Mr. B to confirm the payment. The money for the iPhone is with neither of them (Mr. A or Mr. B) at this junction. For the money to get to Mr. B (iPhone seller), Mr. B has to ship the phone to Mr. A. When the shipment gets to Mr. A, he checks very well and confirms the overall status of the phone and confirms everything works. He then gives the "go" word to Mr. C (the middle man), who then sends the IPhone money to Mr. B and every goes home happy and no one comes to NL wailing with threads upon threads.

Let's say I am MR A

Who is Mr C, and why should I trust he won't run away with my money ? (Call me paranoid but I don't even trust seun with my money)

How I am even sure Mr C and Mr B ain't in on it ?

If I pay to Mr B and Mr C sends the iPhone to me, how does Mr C know that Mr B didn't send a damaged iPhone ?

What if Mr B sends me(Mr A) a good iPhone but I(Mr A) say it's bad and when asked to send back the iPhone for a refund, I send a totally different bad iPhone.

What does Mr C does when stories are conflicting ?

Psychodavidovic:
The is a very nice idea and I really appreciate the fact that someone is willing to act on the numerous frauds going on in this forum. However, ths plan still has a lot of moving parts.

Case Study:



Let's say I am MR A

Who is Mr C, and why should I trust he won't run away with my money ? (Call me paranoid but I don't even trust seun with my money)

How I am even sure Mr C and Mr B ain't in on it ?

If I pay to Mr B and Mr C sends the iPhone to me, how does Mr C know that Mr B didn't send a damaged iPhone ?

What if Mr B sends me(Mr A) a good iPhone but I(Mr A) say it's bad and when asked to send back the iPhone for a refund, I send a totally different bad iPhone.

What does Mr C does when stories are conflicting ?

You are got a point especially with that returning a bad product part. You see, the system is not entirely scam proof yet, that's why all brains should be on deck to improve the idea.
.
Now, remember that if a product is to be returned, Mr. C has to verify that the product was truly returned plus he also verifies that is the original product which was sent, before making any payout. So say I send Mr. A a working IPhone, remember I must have taken photos of that working iPhone before sending. Later on, Mr. A sends me a dead iPhone claiming the iPhone I sent him is faulty (we all know this is a lie). What normally happens here is that a dispute is opened and Mr. C remains with the money until the dispute is resolved.
Dispute resolution technique is another area we should all look into.
.
Mr. C (the middle man) has no business with the physical product, neither does he have any business with the intending dealers nor buyer. He is a neutral person whose duty is to handle cash until the deal is verified before paying out.
.
.
Mr. C has to be properly scrutinized (that's where the mods of NL come into the limelight) before he is engaged. I talked about National IDs, voters card, house address just about anything to make sure the middle is traceable and authentic. A special company can even be created and registered for the sole aim of this. Alternatively, an online escrow platform managed by NL will also suffice.
.
Two heads are better than one. Thanks for your input.
Remember, if you have a working plan, bring it on let's analyze it, who knows?

davidsthe:


This is offensive to Namibians. You should apologise.

But they are Bush men. That's what they call them (don't think it's a derogatory term). What about hill bellies and cave men? Are these derogatory terms too?

IAmSkinny:

You are got a point especially with that returning a bad product part. You see, the system is not entirely scam proof yet, that's why all brains should be on deck to improve the idea.
.
Now, remember that if a product is to be returned, Mr. C has to verify that the product was truly returned plus he also verifies that is the original product which was sent, before making any payout. So say I send Mr. A a working IPhone, remember I must have taken photos of that working iPhone before sending. Later on, Mr. A sends me a dead iPhone claiming the iPhone I sent him is faulty (we all know this is a lie). What normally happens here is that a dispute is opened and Mr. C remains with the money until the dispute is resolved.
Dispute resolution technique is another area we should all look into.
.
Mr. C (the middle man) has no business with the physical product, neither does he have any business with the intending dealers nor buyer. He is a neutral person whose duty is to handle cash until the deal is verified before paying out.
.
.
Mr. C has to be properly scrutinized (that's where the mods of NL come into the limelight) before he is engaged. I talked about National IDs, voters card, house address just about anything to make sure the middle is traceable and authentic. A special company can even be created and registered for the sole aim of this. Alternatively, an online escrow platform managed by NL will also suffice.
.
Two heads are better than one. Thanks for your input.
Remember, if you have a working plan, bring it on let's analyze it, who knows?

A picture can not give full details about a phone; sure it might tell if you if the screen is broken or tell you the IMEI (incase of a swapped phone) but what about things that can't be seen ? Like a faulty battery ? Faulty charging port ? Volume or power button(s) not functioning properly ?

Like I said, still a lot of moving parts that should be looked into.

By the way, this is looking like a hectic task for Mr C already. Is he getting paid. If yes, then how ? If no, then what is his gain ?

It's either like this: if a there is ever going to b Mr C for a particular area he should be the one that his office is accessible and worth entrusting your properties.
Mr C wouldn't just comes into the deal for free there has to be payment involved
The item is to be further reviewed by mr C who will possibly send the item to Mr A. After which Mr A has confirm the descriptions of the item. Mr C is free to pay mr B without waiting for mr A recieve the item. (Except it's payment on delivery agreement)

This way it can't eliminate the dubious act tho but will reduce it.

Any deal around ikotun and it's environs,am wiling to throw in . My office is open for inspection.

Good one Op

..

It's a good idea, working on it...

IAmSkinny:
I am not here to sell any e-book or promote my blog so I will just go straight to the point

HOW THE SCAM LOOKS LIKE
Mr. A is in Edo and Mr. B is in Lagos. Mr. B wants to sell an IPhone and Mr. A wants to buy the iPhone so they strike a deal. Mr. A sends Mr. B the because he has promised to send the phone (way bill) to Edo state once he gets the money. Once Mr A sends the money, Mr. B starts telling Mr. A stories upon stories and eventually, he (Mr. B) refuses to send the phone to Edo state despite the fact that Mr. A has paid fully for it oo.
Mr. A then comes to NL and creates a thread and then the circle goes on and on.

Another Case
Mr. Brown wants to buy a camera from Mr. Smith who is in Abuja. Mr. Brown later gets an entirely different camera from Mr. Smith who is in Aba.
When Mr. Brown complains, he gets blocked on whatsapp and all social media by Mr. Brown! Did I forget to mention Mr. Brown also stopped picking his (Mr. Smith) calls?

And what about the guys who got scammed trying to purchase adsense and Facebook page?


In all these and many more, there is no buyer protection! The buyer is at the mercy of the seller who may decide
to scam him and go scot free. Phewwwwww
But with this simple and effective proposal which I am willing to test run right here, all these will become a thing of the past so stay tuned fellas

Your judgement is already biased.
You seem to see only the buyer as the potential victim, whereas the seller is at a more dangerous position, what if the seller sends the item and the buyer refuses to make payment? there was a recent case of such, how many times have buyers used fake bank transaction alerts to dupe sellers?.
If a buyer is scammed, he has leads because he most likely paid into a bank account which can be traced. But what happens when a seller is duped? when he doesn't even have the home address of the buyer.

Remember either Mr. C or Mrs. Z .. Disclaimer : Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.

Oga just backed out.

dragnet:
Remember either Mr. C or Mrs. Z
..

Disclaimer : Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for
anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.

it doesn’t mean when a solution is proffered we should shy away from it.
In the long run it’s bad for nairaland.

dragnet:


Your judgement is already biased.
You seem to see only the buyer as the potential victim, whereas the seller is at a more dangerous position, what if the seller sends the item and the buyer refuses to make payment? there was a recent case of such, how many times have buyers used fake bank transaction alerts to dupe sellers?.
If a buyer is scammed, he has leads because he most likely paid into a bank account which can be traced. But what happens when a seller is duped? when he doesn't even have the home address of the buyer.

I believe you are a mod here. At least I got your attention but I think you are missing a bit of the point I am trying to make. Like I said, the system is not entirely scam proof yet but with more inputs from fellow Nairalanders, it will be.

In this system, it is the buyer who sends money to the middle man first. If the buyer does not send money to the middle, then no deal. After the buyer sends money to the middle man, the middle man, confirms payment and asks the seller to send the goods to the buyer. When the seller gets the goods and confirms everything is alright, the middle man then pays the buyer.
I don't know if you get now. I believe a compromised Mr. C is the biggest threat to this system.

dragnet:
Remember either Mr. C or Mrs. Z .. Disclaimer : Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.

This is serious

Psychodavidovic:


A picture can not give full details about a phone; sure it might tell if you if the screen is broken or tell you the IMEI (incase of a swapped phone) but what about things that can't be seen ? Like a faulty battery ? Faulty charging port ? Volume or power button(s) not functioning properly ?

Like I said, still a lot of moving parts that should be looked into.

By the way, this is looking like a hectic task for Mr C already. Is he getting paid. If yes, then how ? If no, then what is his gain ?

Yes, the system still looks "somehow" you know.
But we can use review and rating system to flag people that sell such phones. We rate them poorly that will make people avoid them entirely.
Maybe a token say 2-5huns per deal

As in, the matter just tire me....as the guy just start Mr a...Mr b....blah bkah bla...I was thinking...dude, put up an escrow already....
Baba dey talk story

aIIkae:
Lol. All this story you should have just said Nairaland needs an escrow service.
You cannot be this escrow. Who you be? No individual can. It has to be integrated Into Nairaland itself as an automated service to inspire any form of trust.

@OP sellers have been victim of scam since time immemorial, several times sellers have sent products to buyers only to get scammed.
i cant forget the way initialize cried here on the forum when he was scammed years back of a huge sum, his school fees which he tried to use to do some biz to generate extra cash before remitting it to the school.. the list can go on, several sellers have been scammed here on Nairaland.

Escrow is the safe way, and regularly used by smart buyers and sellers.

Nairaland IMO is designed to be a public forum cutting across various topics, not some sales forum unlike the days of Nairalist

Your trying to sell yourself as a potential escrow for buyers but the sellers are not put into consideration.

IAmSkinny:

Yes, the system still looks "somehow" you know.
But we can use review and rating system to flag people that sell such phones. We rate them poorly that will make people avoid them entirely.
Maybe a token say 2-5huns per deal

Looking good. Maybe when a different thread should be opened for the deals while this thread is used for making the scheme better over time ?

calddon:
@OP sellers have been victim of scam since time immemorial, several times sellers have sent products to buyers only to get scammed.
i cant forget the way initialize cried here on the forum when he was scammed years back of a huge sum, his school fees which he tried to use to do some biz to generate extra cash before remitting it to the school.. the list can go on, several sellers have been scammed here on Nairaland.

Escrow is the safe way, and regularly used by smart buyers and sellers.

Nairaland IMO is designed to be a public forum cutting across various topics, not some sales forum unlike the days of Nairalist

Your trying to sell yourself as a potential escrow for buyers but the sellers are not put into consideration.

Bros, you no dey forget something o!

Anyways... U just made me take a look back n I appreciate that.

Thanks

Stormyweather:
it doesn’t mean when a solution is proffered we should shy away from it.
In the long run it’s bad for nairaland.

Nairaland isn't an ecommerce website, do you blame the landlord of a mall for a bad transaction in one of the rented shops?

dragnet:

Nairaland isn't an ecommerce website, do you blame the landlord of a mall for a bad transaction in one of the rented shops?

agreed it isn’t an ecommerce but I should think the landlord will put in efforts if the bad eggs are the ones who rented his shop else he starts to lose people.
Remember if there are no customers due to several negative reviews, there will eventually be no one to rent the shop.
Myopically this is ok but for far sight it’s bad for nairaland.

calddon:
@OP sellers have been victim of scam since time immemorial, several times sellers have sent products to buyers only to get scammed.
i cant forget the way initialize cried here on the forum when he was scammed years back of a huge sum, his school fees which he tried to use to do some biz to generate extra cash before remitting it to the school.. the list can go on, several sellers have been scammed here on Nairaland.

Escrow is the safe way, and regularly used by smart buyers and sellers.
Blog
Nairaland IMO is designed to be a public forum cutting across various topics, not some sales forum unlike the days of Nairalist

Your trying to sell yourself as a potential escrow for buyers but the sellers are not put into
consideration.

I am not marketing myself sir. Seems you refused to read the thread in depth, you chose to hammer on the part that confirms your skepticism. I volunteered to be the "Mr. C" if ever the plan is put into motion in order to test its workability. Here on this thread, there is another volunteer with a physical office in Ikotun.

I refuse to believe the whole advantage of this system is tipped towards the buyer. Everything is 50-50, the seller may decide to call-off the deal too since the money is with neither of them. If the buyer refuses to let go of the cash, he forfeits his cash (cash with the middle man). Initialize wouldn't have been scammed if they was a middle man. Don't even bring such a scenario here because the deal involved no middle man at all.
.
Let me break it down using Initialize here as a case study. Initialize wants to sell his goods, say to Obama. He first, Initialize contacts a reliable Middle man here on NL, asks Obama to pay to the middle man (remember he is neutral and incorruptible). When the middle man confirms the payment from Obama, Initialize then ships the goods to Obama. Obama receives the goods and verifies everything is Ok. The middle man now forwards the cash to Initialize and everyone goes home smiling.
.
nairaland is also a sales forum and that's why every board here has its own unique market.