I got this text message from a Nairalander on Saturday after he was contacted by some Nairaland Agents to show him some Properties in the Lekki Environment which turned out to be a ruse and very problematic:

" [size=14pt]Lawyer but why is dt most of ur posters on Nairaland r dubious? As a moderator, is it not possible 4 u 2 pre-screen peopl offerin 2 sell property? There are 2 many clowns[/size]"

While the text might seem humourous to some, there is an underlying seriousness involved here because he complained seriously about the following:

1. Unnecessary Time wasting to view Properties that are rubbish and a total reverse of what has been advertised

2. The Agent dont seem to know much about the property upon inspection and would take a client to a very far distance and still not know what he is suppose to sell

3. Have no idea of the proposed document or title it possess

4. The property itself might not even be a good land or the owners are 2 different people.

While i have done my best to an extent to visit some Nairaland agents secretly to weed out the wheat from the chaff in exchange for name calling and relentless opbrium when they discover who i am for spoiling their business and exposing them, there is also little i can do too. I cannot be every where and i cannot do 50 property searches in a week trying to validate who is who especially those on Nairaland.

Although i must confess that i have met some very wonderful and brilliant agents on Nairaland but it seems the hoards of Dubious Agents are patroling Nairaland now in droves and its becoming worrying especially for people like the above Nairalander who sent me this text.

Please i would need your advise on how to tackle this situation and what roles you can also play because we all have a duty to protect this website and ourselves from Dubious Agents and also Agents too your responses will be highly appreciated!

Cheers

D. law, u are asking an obvious question, NAME them, BAN them! There are no short cuts on a Palm tree  [color=#006600][/color]

I would recommend a system similar to that used by amazon. whereby each agents ID can be given a customer satisfaction rating that is controlled by the moderator . that way you urge other users to go in and list there experiences under the agents profile .This way you do not bare the sole burden of weeding out the bad eggs. Not sure if this is an existing facility on the software running this site.

Keep a comprehensive list of the ones that you trust and can vouch for and tell whoever wants to get on the list has to get with you somehow for validation.

I think nairaland users should do more reporting of any suspicious ads. That way moderators will be alarmed and hopefuly they'll check out the person. One thing that I try to avoid is no biz with anybody that does not have lots of postings. They are probably new or might have been previously banned then open a new acct.

It’s not possible to totally eradicate Fraudsters from nairaland! It’s a free forum on the  internet, but a few precautions can be taken especially when dealing with strangers over the internet whether viewing of  Land or buying of item; so that you don’t fall victim to Fraudsters

- Meet in-person to see the item, and remember to take someone along with you. Don’t send money in advance  of receiving items, or send items in  
             advance of receiving payment.

- View the property you intend to buy, don’t be in a hurry to buy the land; make sure you investigate the legitimacy of the land. Lawyer himself has  
             previously advised people on simple precautions to take when buying land; in this link,
              https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-377377.0.html  

& most importantly, use common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not true!.

sulad82i:

I think nairaland users should do more reporting of any suspicious ads. That way moderators will be alarmed and hopefuly they'll check out the person. One thing that I try to avoid is no biz with anybody that does not have lots of postings. They are probably new or might have been previously banned then open a new acct.

Yeah i agree with you. Any suspiciously looking advert should be reported and be removed & the person should be banned by the admin and moderators!

This censoring should be extended to d auto section too

you can get the ball rolling by having the initial complainant to name and shame the agent that caused him anguish.
there will be no sanity until you name and shame.
it might be abused but when it will be a first step in the right direction.

I agree with kaiser500 in addition let all agents produce all company name and registration documents and prove they are who they said they are, fill a disclaimer before they can advertise it will benefit them as well,tell seun to create a logo or symbol for the one that pass through these process, any agent without the symbol the buyer will know and its at there risk if they want to do business with them.

Thank you for this, just name and shame + ban for anyone proven to try dirty tricks here. Another thing I will like to find out, should those that are not licenced/registered land/estate agents not supposed to make posts for lands they know is authentic for sale?

In my case, I am not registered anywhere, I am a professional in a different field who invests in real estate, I normally receive many offers to purchse, and sometimes I pass the ones I don't need immediately to Nairaland public to consider. If this is an offence I will stop posting in this section entirely.

Will it be an offence if I decide to post my own property for sale? Please clarify us, once again I hail you lawyer, you are a great man.

@ lawyer, its high time something is done, its not only in land related matters, am a lawyer, i have received several text messages on phone n email offering bogus deals and stuffs from pencils to autos, goodies, it takes a rather careful pro to tell when a fraudster is on his/her prowl.

i think the ID thing should be introduced, every profession should be categorized and identified, lawyers, engineers, doctors etc. when any1 wants to deal with 1, he/she should check his/her profile which should include comprehensive data of d person. we would be saving ourselves these agonies, a lot of posters are fake, dats d main reason i still dont have a facebook account.

Nairaland at it again

I like pittbaby's idea. You can set up a way to rank them from feedback that you get. In that way if someone wants to see who has more stars they can come on this forum and check it out.
From what you described it does not say dubious to me but rather lazy. Nobody wants to spend a whole weekend looking for a house that was not even what they requested.

@Lawyer.

I know that i've personally reported one of the bogus agent to you via the "report" button.

He is still much prowling here and advertising to have properties for rent which apparently he does not have. All he does after collecting 3k from prospecting client is taking you on a merry go round. His advertised properties are mainly on the mainland and specifically on the ikeja, ogba oregun axis.

There are just to many of them on NL.

Lawyer, do ur job o!

DONT BELIEVE INDIAN AGENTS AND COMPANIES THAT IS OFFERING SCHOLARSHIP IN INDIA AND BANGALORE CHENNAI .
THEY CHEAT THE STUDENTS BY DOUBLING THE FEE AND GIVING SOMETHING BACK IN THE FORM OF SCHOLARSHIP.
BEWARE.
ALWAYS CONTACT REPUTED COLLEGES DIRECTLY (USE SEARCH ENGINE) DO YOUR HOME WORK PROPERLY THEN DECIDE.
MANY COLLEGES HAVE BEEN DE RECOGNISED BY THE CENTRAL GOVT IN INDIA.
DONT GET CHEATED BY ENROLLING TO CHAEP COLLEGES.
ALSO READ THIS ARTICLE AND PASS IT ON TO FRIENDS SO THAT THEY DONT GETIN TO TRAP.

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/10/20100202201002020653289553c8833c/Oz-or-us.html#

Oz or us?

Even as we dub Australians racists following attacks on Indian students Down Under, an African student describes how he has been subjected to discrimination in Bangalore based on his skin colour

Manasi Paresh Kumar
Posted On Tuesday, February 02, 2010 at 06:53:28 AM

You thought only Australians are racists? Well, if you go by the tales of international students in India, then our hospitality leaves a lot to be desired. Bangalore has a sizeable population of international students, most of whom come from African nations. These youngsters are often the object of ridicule and discrimination because of their skin colour.


Instances of harassment are many, but the law enforcers have often been accused of looking the other way. Allan Goris Maxwel, 26, from Ivory Coast, a small country in West Africa, narrates his story.

FIRST VISIT
I came to Bangalore four years ago to study BCA in a private college. When I first came, I did not quite understand why they’d laugh at me. I did not understand the language, but their meaning was hard to miss. Then came the pain of looking for a home. They refused to rent out their premises to us because we were unfamiliar. I understand that. But as we understood the language, we understood how abusive they really were.

PAINTING WRONG PICTURE
We come from a former French Colony and speak French as our first language. We speak English with a strong accent. When I was making a presentation in the college, a couple of my Indian classmates were sneering at the back, making obvious references to my accent. I asked them to stop, but nothing happened. Even the lecturer made a veiled comment that we should go back to our country.

On another occasion, we went to a club and were turned away. The reason given was, ‘niggers are not allowed’. I have an Indian girlfriend and we are constantly abused wherever we go. We were out one evening and a chap on the next table commented in Tamil, “Look at this black guy, can’t find a girl of his kind. So he is out with one of ours. Somebody should thrash him and send him back to where he came from.” My girlfriend retorted and shut them up.

When the universities come recruiting, they don’t tell us about these problems and pain a rosy picture.

COPS APATHETIC
It is difficult to convince the police. If there is a problem involving us and the locals, then we are blamed. One such instance was when my friend’s bike was hit by a Honda City and we ended up paying for the damages. My friend was beaten up by the guy who rammed into his motorbike. Cops refused to believe us.

My female friends were recently despoiled by auto drivers. No action has been taken by the cops. The police think we are to blame all the time. The recent arrest of Nigerian nationals over illegal activities has not helped either. Yet, there are friends despite all these problems. I won’t call India racist. We don’t have a shared history of hatred and you can’t hate somebody you don’t know.

For all those who screaming against racist attacks on our fellow citizens in Australia, we need to clean up our house first.

It very wrong for any property broker to post a property which he or she knows is not exsisting,however, it is equally reasonable for us to consider the difficulties of pre-inspecting all properties giving to you, especially the ones that are outside your management portfolio, those in this field knows what I am talking about, fellows agents are always relunctant to show their  properties except when the client is physically present.
In the light of this, you cannot rule out possibilities of misrepresentation without intent for dubious purpose.My advice is patience, understanding and mutual respect from both sides ( the broker and propective tenant).I am not making any case for any body here though.

From my personal experience as a property Broker, I think property  seekers hardly make out time to shop for their desired property, It is unreasonable to base 100% of ones expectation on the verbal impression giving by a broker who simply want market his property and earn his commission more so, when he is not under any contractual obligation to act in your interest.
This issue shouldn't generate undue excitement so as not to give a bad image to the forum and its members more.
Buying property or renting one is a crucial issue, seekers should to take more time in doing underground search before parting with their money,Agents and even lawyers sometimes can fall victim too, where proper deligence is not exercised!

@ moderator! a precautionary message will be ideal

cliveland:

@ lawyer, its high time something is done, its not only in land related matters, am a lawyer, i have received several text messages on phone n email offering bogus deals and stuffs from pencils to autos, goodies, it takes a rather careful pro to tell when a fraudster is on his/her prowl.

i think the ID thing should be introduced, every profession should be categorized and identified, lawyers, engineers, doctors etc. when any1 wants to deal with 1, he/she should check his/her profile which should include comprehensive data of d person. we would be saving ourselves these agonies, a lot of posters are fake, dats d main reason i still dont have a facebook account.

             I quite agree with the introduction of ID to all agents with all relevant data  of the agent be included in their profile for view by prospective customer/buyer or client. Categorisation of proffession is another vital measure that can ensure sanity and help to identify suspected fraudsters, It is surprising when you view some post where a particualr person would claim he can assist in getting a property, Automobile and so many other things at the same time.

         Another important thing is that i want the moderator to make it compulsory for all prospective buyer to study and digest "Lawyer's Posts on Do's and Dont's before buying a Property" this would assist any prospective buyer of falling prey to fraudsters because vital informations such as searching and investigation of property before actual purchase would have been effected.

There are these people called Perry Solutions on nairaland.com; they claim they buy and ship things in for people from the US. Thus us their website;

www.perrysolution.com

This is the contact number on the site - 080.3561.7436

I have placed two orders with them and paid into their Oceanic Bank Account. Their timing is supposed to be two weeks BUT my first order is way past two weeks AND its one story after the other.

This guy will not pick his call until you send a text that you will expose them on nairaland.com

His latest is that they have orders stock at NAHCO since last thursday AND they have been telling them to come the day after since then - this sounds very strange from someone who runs a business like this.

First of all, they wont call you to tell you of any delays, secondly they will tell you they are at the airport, thirdly NAHCO?, then come today, come tomorrow?

I'm thinking these guys are not saying something OR they are a fraud. Nairalanders beware of Perry Solutions - Something is not straight here.

Another One:

The reporter has made the following comment:
[size=14pt]The advertised property was said to be no longer available, yet the poster fail to update its inavailability status. was incensed yesterday wasting my time and money to check it out only to be told it is no longer available, rather i should come and pay for one form to seek another property. of course i declined. Pls keep an eye on these guys, they could be scammers for all we know[/size].

Keeping Tabs on Estate Agents is something i would like to do and enforce but how do you do it when an Agent has been exposed and banned and he comes back with another Nairaland I.D?

Is it possible to have pictures of Agents to show to the world? Wont that also violate their privacy too?

Or better still have an Association of Nairaland Real Estate Agents to Monitor and enforce these duties and responsiblities to clients?

Property Issues are million Naira issues that should not be taken lightly. Looking for N500,000 and above to pay for a tenancy or land is no small joke and for you to know later that you have been scammed and duped is a big problem.

We really need to establish a concensus on the way forward here because i can no longer be the lone voice trying to educate people to do due diligence in respect of property issues anymore. Like a poster stated, the I.D Verification per Agent seems to be the best solution and i wonder if we can enforce it.


I appreciate the advises so far. Keep them coming and i promise to forward them to the relevant authorities to carry out your wishes!

Pittbaby:

I would recommend a system similar to that used by amazon. whereby each agents ID can be given a customer satisfaction rating that is controlled by the moderator . that way you urge other users to go in and list there experiences under the agents profile .This way you do not bare the sole burden of weeding out the bad eggs. Not sure if this is an existing facility on the software running this site.

I think this would be a good enhancement to Nairaland. Lets rate agents, but I guess there should be a way to distinct between, TRADERs, BUYERs and USERs.

For me, i believe in cash and carry business.I don't want to fall for any person and i don't intend to cheat any person. If you really want something, INVESTIGATE. Nowadays, even would be girlfriends are investigated not to talk of parting with money or valuable.
Secondly, i think moderator, you can have a list of trusted Agents and publicize them on. Others who are fraudsters will definitely get a cue from your actions and leave Nairaland alone.

I know of some1 who recently bought a car on NL, he got it far cheaper than what u can obtain from d market. Sometimes some offers are too good to be true n they are trly true. We all must be careful sha n our moderators shldnt give up.

Real estate is a business that requires legal search and due diligence. No serious prospective client should buy without such necessary actions. However agents/brokers most times spent time and money to source lands/properties which may not be their direct briefs cos thats the nature of the job at times (even d so called established coys do advertise other agents briefs), so that does not make such an agent dubious. I 've had dealings with some NLs both home/abroad either sale/lease & there has never been any cause for distrust or fraud cos i've always done my job 2d best of my capapbility as an agent. What happens to NLs who are not agents but have personal properties to sell or has friends/relations that wanted to sell, or what about some prospective clients that wouldnt respond to calls/email after an agent have spent time & money on their requests? THE BABY SHOULD NOT BE THROWN OUT WITH THE BATHWATER RATHER TRANSPARENCY, GENUINESS AND STANDARD MUST BE ENCOURAGED AND FRAUDULENT ACTS BE REPORTED!, HH&M CO.

How do you rid NL Properties of fraudsters? How do you rid Nigeria as a whole of fraudsters? A very serious issue which unfortunately, has no simple answer. Will naming them and shaming them do the trick? What I normally advise people is to deal with agents based on recommendations. Even as an agent myself, I only deal with other known agents because the truth of the matter is there are fraudsters everywhere. If it sounds too good to be true, more often than not, it is.

Also, some clients don't like to be told the truth and fraudsters take advantage of this and will play to the wants of the client and at the end dupe them.

Bottom line: tread with caution at all times.

Ok you spoken well

never do business with someone with an ID that springs up overnight. (my own personal rules)

I find that it is only Nigerian property vendors who think its convenient or is it expedient to deal in secret. What stops them from doing what has become a worldwide norm- show the pics of what you are swelling!!! A simple picture will help to prevent fraud in property sales in more ways than you can imagine. It helps both genuine sellers and buyers. Realtors all over europe and america do that. Even with our next door neighbor Ghana, it is standard practice.

If the concern is that extraneous third parties may throw in spanner in the works on account of (un)proven interests, the best time for issues like that to be dealt with is when ownership is changing hands.

Selling a house is not much different from selling a used car. Let photographs and GPS illustrations take the place of VIN numbers on NL.