Woman dupes job seekers of N6.2m

By Olalekan Adetayo

A 38-year-old woman, Linda Sanni, is currently in police custody for allegedly duping over 150 desperate job seekers of about N6.2m.


Sanni, a resident of Daniel Close, Alagbado, a suburb of Lagos, reportedly posed as a recruiting agent of an American airline which she claimed would soon commence operation in Nigeria and was in need of cabin crew.

She reportedly engaged the services of four of her friends who visited public places, especially churches located around Aguda in Surulere, to urge job seekers to apply.

Each of the job seekers who besieged her office, Eagle Air Travels and Tours, located inside Aguda Market, was made to pay N41, 000 and deposit their international passport and four passport photographs.

Sanni claimed that the money was meant to cover the applicants' local training at a firm in Ikeja as well as their foreign training in South Africa.

She said she opened the office in 2008 when she left the airline she was working for as a result of her employer's inability to pay salaries.

She said she had spent part of the proceeds from the deal to buy a Sport Utility Vehicle and a Golf car.

The mother of two is currently being detained at Aguda Police Station, Surulere, after one of her victims reported her to the police.

One of the victims who spoke with our correspondent said the suspect cashed in on his desperation to get a job as a fresh graduate.

He said he could not doubt the authenticity of the offer because the announcement was made in the church.

"It is an unpleasant experience. It was not even easy to raise the N41,000 she demanded from me," the victim who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent.

The Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Frank Mba, said the command was working with the suspect to recover some of the money with a view to refunding the victims.