₦airaland Forum

HopeNeverDies:
These baztards wanna turn my state to something else ffs💔

When Muslims in your state decided to invite Sheikh Gumi, they didn't know they were inviting his ideas, bha?

I dunno if I'm the only one who thinks this is a political move?

Write to CBN and copy the banks, they will resolve it sharply.

Or better still, threaten to report them to CBN first.

Once CBN gets involved, they'll resolve it sharply, because there's usually a fine attached if I'm right.

You can check CBN website for the mail to report to.

kolaa007:
I guess we can all benefit from this thread. Looking to start farming on 10 acre should i just do cassava jeje or go into palm or do poultry but i think poultry wahala is too much and require much resources

If the land is yours, Oil Palm or Plantain.

If it's a rented land, Cassava, Tomatoes, Peppers.

P.S: If you're doing oil palm, you can plant Cassava in between.

Start selling bike spare parts with your engine oil.

LivstockJunctio:
Morning Nigerians.
Few weeks from now, planting of beans of all species will commence.
For any tutorial on how to grow your beans, consult us here. We will do justice to it together by His Grace.
God Bless You All

I want to come to north to see/learn how farming is done there.

Is it possible to visit your farm?

So, We got a full refund for both phones today, thanks to SON.

SON followed up the matter, and the seller contacted us himself that we should bring back both phones for a refund.

I don't know if LASCOPA and Xiaomi support followed it up though, as they haven't sent me any mail since, but I got a resolution mail from SON same day the seller contacted my mum, so I know the resolution came from them.

I've also sent SON an update today after we got the refund.

Thank you to everyone who followed this thread so far.

We will be getting new phones from one of the official vendors Xiaomi sent to me above.

Seems the first few people to comment on this thread don't have a functional brain.

They made everything about Trump

Oluhgbengaa:
Can send the list of the official seller please 🥺 🙏

I have attached it below.

Oluhgbengaa:
I later sell the phone at the rate of 5k today

Can't use redmi phone or product again

Hmm.

Redmi sent me a list of their official sellers in different states in Nigeria, and ask me to always buy from them.

They later sent another mail that the device appears to be their original hardware, but since it's not a local version, there'll be compatibility issue.

Based on the response, I don't think they'll do anything about the sellers

I just let them know their brand name will eventually get damaged if they don't do anything about it, because, no one will keep buying Redmi phones if they can't use normal day-to-day apps on it or if the follow come charger can't charge the phone properly?

If they don't do anything about the sellers, then, I personally expect the brand to fall off the Nigerian market within 5 years, because everyone will naturally start avoiding it.

Oluhgbengaa:
Forget about it

Don't buy from unauthorized seller again

Go to Slot to get your phone

I get, but even if we don't end up getting a refund, I'll like to see appropriate punishment meted out to the seller/business.

Selling fake stuffs (in pretence it is genuine) is fraud, and is punishable by law.

So, I've sent a mail to Xiaomi Nigeria support this morning. I copied FCCPC, SON, LASCOPA and Xiaomi Global in the mail.

After sending the mail, I called Xiaomi Nigeria support, and they checked the IMEI and they told me the seller is not an official seller, and I should return to the seller to get a refund OR insist he sells me a local version . Literally, they can't help with getting back a refund.

Well, I asked if they could investigate the business, because the business is damaging their brand by selling compromised Non-local versions of their phones, and they responded that they'll see my mail and escalate it as appropriate.

So, let's see if I hear back from them.

I will probably call FCCPC, LASCOPA and SON too before the day runs out. I already copied all of them in the mail, but calling might be faster.

quadraheem:
This is another evidence that shows that money cannot buy everything especially Happiness.

Money can buy Happiness bro, don't let anyone decive you

With money, you can get increased satisfaction with life, get what you want, solve your life's problems that money can solve, help people. etc.

Money can actually buy and distribute happiness.

Bossman:
With all those observations on supposedly new devices, the seller should be called out. I am sure the seller is aware of this to some extent. These are China used/fake devices that were modified to work in Nigeria. What a shame!

Yes, I'm planning to call Xiaomi Nigeria official line on Monday. I called on Saturday, and an Automated voice told me they are only active from 9am - 4pm Monday - Friday.

If nothing, the company should at least be able to do something about it to protect their brand name.

Gptech:
As suggested, screenshot the about section of the phone let's see the rom version and kernel. I don't think the phones are fake otherwise they won't run on HyperOs, I think they are mostly used Chinese version phones.

Based on the checks by the Xiaomi service center I contacted, the IMEI suggests used Philippines/Cameroon version.

But the serial number of one of them doesn't match the IMEI, so that particular one is likely fake.

What we wanted was brand new phones, not used phones that have been flashed to make them work in Nigeria, and then repackaged as new.

So, continuation (summary):

- My mum scheduled a trip back to Lagos to return both phones yesterday.

- The seller refused to refund, instead, he opted to give her new ones.

- She met many resellers from different states there, who where there to buy phones to sell.

- They all convinced her nothing's wrong with the phones, and I'm saying nonsense.

- For the new ones they gave her, they removed the new phones from different boxes and gave it to her while keeping the box and accessories and asking her to keep the previous box and accessories. This is a red flag, because boxes and phones go together as the IMEI and SN are written on both box and phone.

- The two new phones are still compromised. Both have unlocked Bootloaders, fail basic integrity test and are not play-protect certified.

- The seller activated WhatsApp on one of the 2 phones to prove to her WhatsApp works (and I don't know what I'm saying), but I believe he most likely just used an app or software to bypass the security verification and WhatsApp will stop working in a few weeks.

- I reached out to the Xiaomi service center again with the IMEI and SN of both phones. Both are none Nigerian phones (One Philippines, one Cameroon). One have invalid Serial number which suggests it's likely fake. Both being a Non-Nigerian phone explains why it needs to be flashed with a custom rom.

- My mum went to show the phones to a phone engineer here, and the engineer told her both phones are okay and it will serve the school purpose my siblings need it for

- At the moment, it appears my mama believe all of them (especially the resellers she met, and the engineer here that she knows very well). So she believes the phone is original and the normal one being sold around.

- I was planning to send a mail to FCCPC and LASCOPA before, in the hope they'll investigate the business and help get a refund, but as things stand, I don't think I will write any of them, since my mum isn't interested in the refund anymore.

- Instead, I will send a mail to Xiaomi Nigeria alone with all the details, then call them to follow up and hope they take it up (because it's their brand that's being damaged by the fake/compromised phone).


- All in all, if you want to buy phone, try to buy from a trusted source (if possible, the brand official store). There's so many altered/compromised devices out there.

I will probably update this thread once I call Xiaomi Nigeria on Monday.

This entire story stated on Monday, 13/04/2026, when my mum purchased 2 brand new Redmi phones for my younger siblings while on a trip to Lagos.

Upon arrival late that night, we unboxed both phones and see they contain completely different contents (which is odd for phones of the same model).

Phone 1 contains:
- The Phone, Green colour (without protective film)
- A pouch
- The normal Redmi 33W charger
- The IMEI on the carton is different from what's on the phone.
- The battery is low, and since new phones don't come with low battery, I decided to check the battery cycle and it was at 69 (which means someone had likely used it for a couple of months).

Phone 2 contains:
- The phone, black colour (with the screen protective film intact)
- A generic 9V charger
- No pouch
- The IMEI on the carton is the same with what's on the phone, however, the code to check IMEI, which should bring up same IMEI shows nothing.
- Battery level is normal

Now with all this tiny flags, we would have still kept both phones, as travelling back to Lagos to complain isn't feasible, but then, one of my siblings approached me that WhatsApp wouldn't activate, so I took the phone with the intention of activating WhatsApp. I tried to activate both WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business, but despite everything, I kept getting an error similar to Unable to activate WhatsApp, please download the official version of WhatsApp to continue.

Since WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business wouldn't activate irrespective of what I tried, I started researching why WhatsApp wouldn't work, and this led me into checking the phone itself.

As it turned out, the Bootloaders of both phones are unlocked, and an unlocked bootloader is a security threat, so WhatsApp and other high-security apps won't activate.

An unlocked Bootloader on a new phone also signifies the phone is either fake, OR has been tampered with.

I reached out to a Redmi service center, and they ran a check on the IMEI, and as suspected, both phones has been compromised.

Here is what was found:

Phone 1:

- phone with the IMEI was first activated on August 24, 2025, and still under warranty.
- Should be black in colour (not green)
- Nigerian version
- The serial Number on the phone does not correspond with the IMEI, so the phone is fake.
(A valid IMEI with an invalid serial number signifies a fake phone. The sellers stole the IMEI from an original phone, then flashed it on a fake phone)

Phone 2
- IMEI was first activated on November 16, 2025
- Phone is Philippines version.
- sellers must have flashed it with Global Rom to make it sellable in Nigeria .

In conclusion, one phone is fake, while the other one is a Non-Nigerian version that was compromised to make it work in Nigeria.

I was advised to return both phones.

Zankut:
I read your post and I'm scratching my head like I don't get it.... except the initial purchase was impromptu, if not, you did your mum a great deal of disservice by not accompanying her(seeing as you are knowledgeable about phones from your post) or at least advise that she purchase the devices at a nearby/ closer location.

The second trip to Lagos was even a greater disservice like, you noticed these things...no be you suppose go explain to the seller?

Omo, my mum prefers buying things in Lagos, since it's usually cheaper than buying in Ondo state (she was once a trader, and Lagos/Ibadan/Onitsha is where she usually travels to buy market to resell). Left to me, I would have ordered on Jumia.

As for returning with her to Lagos, it's not really convenient

Up next, I will be creating a new post on Nairaland, explaining the details, and how people can check if they've bought the fake phones (because from what my mum explained yesterday, many resellers from other states are buying from the store to go resell. So it's a big big issue).

I will also be writing a mail to Xiaomi Nigeria to report the fake products, then I will call their official line on Monday to restate my report.

I also intend to mail FCCPC, LASCOPA, SON and probably report to VDM to blow the fake Redmi products story if I can reach him.

All in all, this thing hasn't ended and I don't know how it will end, but I know if XIAOMI wants to protect their brand image from getting damaged, they'll happily take up the case.

I pray they collect the phone back from your mummy

My mum travelled back to Lagos yesterday to return both phones. The seller refused to refund her, and after many back and forth, he gave her new ones (He replaced only the phone, like, he took new phones from other cartons and gave it to her )

She mentioned a whole lot of resellers from different states are at the store to buy Redmi phones for selling, and they all gathered together to convince her nothing's wrong with the phones and I don't know what I'm saying. In fact, the seller called me, and after re-explaining the same message I've sent him on WhatsApp (which he ignored), he told me I'm saying nonsense .

The 2 new phones have the exact same issues as the previous ones. The bootloader of both is unlocked, which shows they are both compromised.

The guy decided to install and activate WhatsApp on one of the 2 new phones to show my mum it works, but I know he probably just applied a patch to trick WhatsApp, and the app will stop working in a few weeks after a few playstore/WhatsApp/Redmi OS updates.

Well, I'm planning to create a new thread to alert people to this fake Redmi phones in circulation. I also intend to write a mail to FCCPC, SON and Redmi alerting them to the issue of compromised phones being sold by these sellers.

Hopefully, the agencies I will write to will act.

Alapereketu:
or just resell their phone and get another one

My advice to you tho

Phone that WhatsApp, Bank apps and other apps that require play-protect certification won't work?

What exactly will the next buyer use the phone for?

Like I said in one of my earlier replies, we would have kept the phones (despite the red flags) since it's not easy to travel back to Lagos and my siblings are resuming back to school, but basic day-to-day apps like WhatsApp wouldn't work due to unlocked Bootloaders.

If my sister had successfully activated WhatsApp, I wouldn't have dug into why WhatsApp wouldn't work, wouldn't have posted here yesterday, and wouldn't have reached out to Xiaomi support.

So, selling to someone else can't work. It has to be returned to the seller who sells fake/refurbished/altered phones as brand new.

Kennyflyair:
Omo even sealed phones sef don dey give issues? From what you're saying now, those items are definitely not new. They just repackaged it after it's been used by someone.

And I'm sure they collected full price for both of them.

I think you guys should return it. Make she no go alone o.

Yes, they repackaged them and sealed them.

The thing is we're based in Ondo state, so going with her doesn't seem feasible, but we'll see.

Alapereketu:
I pray they collect the phone back from your mummy

I've messaged the seller number on the receipt on WhatsApp, even forwarded the messages from Redmi support.

They read the messages, but didn't reply.

If they don't accept it back, I will report them to FCCPC.

Gptech:
To avoid issues like this ensure the phone you are buying comes sealed. For the bootloader to be unlocked it's very likely that the phones are not Global version models. Seller may have unlocked the bootloader to flash global rom. What exact model did she buy?

15C.

Both phones were actually sealed.

The first red flag was that both contained completely different items when the 2 boxes were opened.

The charger was different (One came with the redmi 33W charger, the other came with a generic charger).

One has a pouch, the other doesn't.

One has the protective film that's usually on the screen of new phones, but doesn't have the nylon new phones are placed inside, The other have the nylon, but without the protective film.

One came with a low battery.

Then, the IMEI on one is completely different from the IMEI on the carton.

This was what prompted me to even check the battery cycle, only to see one was already at 69 cycles and the other is still on 1.

But despite all the above, we would have still kept both phones since my siblings need to return to school.

But then, one of them installed WhatsApp, and it wouldn't activate, so she brought it to me, and that's what led me into the rabbit hole of the software side.

I also reached out to Xiaomi support this morning, they asked me to return both phones. One is a Philippines version, and it was activated November last year. The other is a Nigerian version, it was activated August last year and should be color black (the colour we got was green, which shows it has been used, and repaired before being repackaged as new).

My mum is now having to plan an unnecessary trip to Lagos because of the phones. A part of me feel like reporting the seller to FCCPC, SON and even the police because what they did is basically fraud, but that might seem like I'm unnecessarily escalating the issue when the seller haven't gotten the opportunity to correct the situation.

My mum got 2 Redmi Phones yesterday (while on a trip to Lagos).

WhatsApp wouldn't activate on both devices, so I did some Googling and checks and finally tracked the issue down to unlocked Bootloaders.

The bootloader of both devices is unlocked, so play protect can't certify the device, and apps that requires high level security won't work.

Even the device settings can't access Xiaomi servers to check for update (which is a huge red flag).

I've told my mum she'll have to return the phones, but the question is why will sellers be selling altered phones as brand new? and is there anyway to verify a phone's genuine before opening up the carton?

dominique:
How can Man city be losing to a Madrid without Mbappe, Bellingham and Rodrygo (their main head ache). How? As it stands now, they have the same goal deficit as Spurs, as in SPURS!!!

One thing though, one of the teams with a big goal deficit will likely do a comeback.

The question is which one?

ARISHEM:
If it becomes successful and they topple the government the Kurdish militias will become a pain to the US in the future.

Exactly what I'm thinking. I hope we won't have another Libya.

One small disagreement, and the fighters will break into smaller factions.

Even me wey na ordinary bike I get, I no dey drop key for them irrespective of how they ask.

I just unlock the bike and hold my key.

Dropping key for car wash guys is a big risk, especially if the guys are young.

Al Nassr of course.

€15m with almost Zero Tax. That €3,500 Madrid pay will still be over taxed 😀

I'm wondering, can this really be blamed on the nurse, considering she would have been giving other children vaccines without any issues?

Could it be an issue of overdose or something wrong with that particular vaccine?

Or a situation where the kids react differently to the vaccine (people react differently to vaccines)?

This people keep blaming Israel and USA for all thier problems.

Same people that sponsor terrorists around the world are trying to claim terrorists sponsored by US/Israel are the ones inciting riots. LMAO

For the bulldozer service, do you charge per day or per hectare? and can I get a rough pricing to use for calculation?