2cul2care:
After reading a similar article here on nairaland of how a guy got scammed in Abuja, I have decided to share my own experience of how I got scammed in Lagos not for anything but to create awareness of this scams to the general public so as to help others in other not to fall victim of scammers.
I have always been ashamed to share my ordeal with anyone until now, for obvious reasons when you tell people things like this they start to stigmatize you and call you a Mumu, Maga, Mugu and all sorts of names, this is the first time am actually sharing this story.
Everyone is always of the opinion that they are very smart and scams like this can’t happen to them well I was in this same category (being a guy who was born and raised in Lagos and had pretty much seen it all)until I got scammed, so let me tell you it can happen to anybody, so let’s get to the story.
This incident happened a few years back, I left my home on that fateful day with my laptop, 2 phones and some cash, I entered a bus going to iyana ipaja, we actually got to iyana ipaja and I dropped at iyana ipaja bus stop.
The moment I dropped and was about going my way a man approached me he had a French accent and he asked me if I knew the directions to an address he called (can’t remember the address again) I had never heard of the address and am very conversant with the area, so I told him to ask someone else, right there and then he asked a man who was standing at the bus stop, he seemed to be waiting for a bus.
He asked the man for the same address the man too also said he didn’t know the place, now for reference purpose I will be calling the man who approached me Mr. x and the 2nd man he asked for address Mr. y.
After Mr. y said he did not know the place, Mr. y then turned to me and asked me if I knew the place and I said no that Mr. x just asked me and I told him I didn’t know the address either, Mr. x then started explaining that he is a business man, that he actually came to Lagos to sell his goods (phones , laptops, cameras etc.) that he’s actually from Cameroon (thus explaining his French accent) that he works in a ship as a crew member and that he sailed to Lagos ,he said his goods were in a house not actually far from iyana ipaja bus stop and that he wanted to sell them that he does not actually know what they are worth in Nigerian money and he doesn’t want to get cheated, also that the person that was supposed to help him sell the goods , he was actually supposed to meet him at the said address he was asking for and he pleaded with me and Mr. y if there was any way we could help him out.
By this time Mr. y seemed so interested in all what Mr. x was saying, and then Mr. y asked me if I was Igbo and I said yes and we actually spoke our language to each other at this point Mr. y began to tell me (still speaking in Igbo) that we should help him because of GOD .
I actually felt for Mr. X because he was looking so confused and tired, so I agreed to help him. At this point Mr. X asked if myself and Mr. y would like to come and take a look at the goods and where he kept them that it’s not far from there, myself and Mr. y agreed, so he led both of us now to where the supposed goods were, we even entered a bus (commercial bus) from iyana ipaja to egbeda, we dropped at egbeda I actually paid the Tfare for myself Mr. y and Mr. x because Mr. x said he didn’t have naira with him and Mr. y said he didn’t have change. All through this period I wasn’t scared because we were in an open place.
Once we dropped at egbeda Mr. x started leading myself and Mr. y to where the supposed goods was, at this time Mr. y continually spoke to me in Igbo, Mr. x through the course of the journey while leading us to where the goods were, would often call me aside and tell me that he doesn’t understand what Mr. y was saying that hope we weren’t trying to cheat him and I would assure him that we weren’t trying to cheat him, he even asked me to buy him soft drink, which I did, Mr. x kept telling me that he was going to deal directly with me as he didn’t trust Mr. y that he was going to hand his goods to me instead and he begged me not to cheat him.
While we were on our way to the supposed place where Mr. x kept his goods he started telling me how he had heavy currency with him at the same place where he kept the goods that he even had naira notes, but that they were ordinary paper that it was when we put a little drop of some certain chemical on it, that was when it would actually turn to money that himself and his colleagues usually used that method to smuggle money into the country for rich and powerful politicians in Nigeria, he even mentioned former president YAR A ADUA was among the people they smuggled money for, he went on to say to the ordinary eye the money is paper but when a chemical is applied to it, it becomes money or you could also use your hands to scrub it and it will change to real money, but he said that process would take time because you had to do it 1 by 1.
While he was saying this Mr. y was also listening and we were still on our way to the supposed place where he kept the goods. We finally arrived at the place it was a normal looking house in a quiet residential neighbourhood, he told myself and Mr. y to wait outside that the people in the compound wouldn’t allow us to come inside that they would be annoyed that he brought strangers there, so myself and Mr. y agreed to wait outside while he went in to get us a sample of his goods.
While Mr. x went in to get a sample of his goods, myself and Mr. y started discussing and Mr. y casually asked me where I work, I told him, he also asked me how much I earned that I looked like a rich guy I also told him, while we were still discussing Mr. x came out of the compound holding a white paper in his hands the size of our normal currency notes, and he began telling myself and Mr. y that this was the money he was talking about, he said when its rubbed together in the hands it would turn to currency, but for large quantity you would need the chemical to change it.
He gave the white paper to Mr. y and told him to begin rubbing it in his hands that it would turn to money Mr. y collected it and did as he said right there before my very eyes the paper turned into a 100 naira note and Mr. x started asking myself and Mr. y what currency it was and we told him it was a 100 naira note, Mr. x asked that how much was it worth as he didn’t know the value we told him not much, he then told us he had more of the paper 100,000 pieces but we needed the chemical to change them to money because of the large quantity. (At this point Mr. x never spoke again about the goods he claimed he had he was only talking about the paper which he claimed was currency).
By now Mr. y had already done the calculation that 100,000 pieces x 100 naira = 10,000,000, Mr. y began telling me that this is opportunity ooo (in Igbo) that haaa this is how GOD just bless people suddenly, by this time I was no longer interested about the whole thing because I had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but because I had promised to help Mr. x I decided to stick around, Mr. x then told myself and Mr. y that he was willing to share the money equally with both of us but we mustn’t cheat him, Mr. y kept exclaiming that we could never cheat him.
Then Mr. x asked myself and Mr. Y if we had any money, we should bring it that we were going to use it to take an oath not to cheat each other, before I could say anything Mr. y brought out 10naira note gave it to him to use it for the oath, by now everything in me began to scream I just wanted to get away from there and regretted ever agreeing to helping Mr. x cause I hated anything diabolical, Mr. y handed Mr. x the 10naira note, Mr. x took the money folded it then used it to touch his teeth, held it in his hand and began talking to the money, saying ‘if I break this oath and cheat Mr. y or myself then let me die’, then he gave it to Mr. y and told him just to hold it to his mouth and say the same thing to it, after which he should give it to me to say mine, Mr. y did his quickly and passed the money to me, to do mine, I collected it held the money towards my mouth and pretended to be talking but I never said anything as they weren’t even looking at me, I then handed the money over to Mr. x, he then told me to give Mr. y and told Mr. y never to spend the money that it is an oath between the 3 of us.
Now Mr. x said we needed to get the chemical to change the paper to money and he mentioned the name of the chemical (I don’t remember the name again) he told myself and Mr. y that we could get it at any big pharmacy, Mr. y agreed to go and find out how much the chemical cost, while myself and Mr. x waited for him (all this while we were still in the neighbourhood where Mr. x took us to in front of the house he said he supposedly kept the goods).
Mr y went for about 30 minutes and came back and told myself and Mr. x that he has gone to several pharmacies but was unable to find it on till he stumbled upon 1 who had it that it cost 80,000, now Mr. x told myself and Mr. y to contribute money to get the chemical, so that we could leave there on time, as time was going, now this was about 1pm, Mr. y then told me that we are going to split the money 50-50 (that’s the 80,000 to buy the chemical)
By now I told Mr. y outright (speaking in Igbo) that I was no longer interested and that I wanted to go to where I planned on going before, Mr. y then started arguing with me (still speaking in Igbo) that I shouldn’t do like that, opportunity comes but once, blah blah blah, Mr. x who noticed us arguing asked what the matter was (pretending not to understand what we were saying) then Mr. y told him outright that I said I was no longer interested, Mr. x then asked me what the matter was that I can’t turn back now, telling me that I had already taken an oath, saying I shouldn’t behave like that, and then he started threatening me telling me that I could run mad, genuinely I became scared because at the end of the day I didn’t know this guy from anywhere I only decided to help him out of compassion.
Being frightened, I decided not to show it but agreed to stick to the plan, so we got back to the plan and Mr. y said both of us myself and himself should go and withdraw 40k each from our bank account, I lied to Mr. y that I didn’t leave home with my ATM and he asked me what bank I used I told him first bank, then he said I could still withdraw with bank draft as long as i am the owner of the account, I then lied again that I didn’t have any money in my account, he then asked me how much my laptop was worth, I told him 100k, he also collected my 2 phones both worth about 50k (if u were to resell them), he then said we would use the laptop and phones to deposit at the pharmacy to collect the chemical, that when the deal was done I would collect it back, that he was going to go and withdraw his own 40k, I reluctantly agreed he left again, leaving me and Mr. x for the second time in search of the chemical.
Now Mr. x started discussing with me asking me why I behaved the way I behaved, saying don’t I know I could run mad after haven taken an oath, I never said a word, he went on to say that he was a cultist, that he has diabolical powers, that everyone in his line of walk belongs to a cult, he mentioned the name (I don’t remember anymore) he said most people who work at sea or in a ship belong to the same cult, that they all have diabolical powers, they had the ability to speak to fishes when at the sea, (he went on and on and on).
Finally Mr. y arrived after about 30mins with some sort of chemical in a bottle, honestly the supposed chemical just looked like water mixed with engine oil in a bottle, he then said he had withdrawn his own 40k and had given it to the pharmacist but my laptop was locked and the pharmacist was asking for the password, I then told him the password and told him to go back to the pharmacist and tell him the password, but he insisted that he was tired that he had been the one running around since morning, he then said he would give me the direction to the pharmacy that the pharmacist was waiting for me to tell him the code of the laptop, I didn’t agree to go but Mr. x interjected that I should follow the direction and go to the pharmacy by myself that truly Mr. y had been the one running around since morning. I then agreed Mr. y gave me the directions on how to get to the place and Mr. x told me that himself and Mr. y would be waiting for me when I get back to use the chemical, share the money and go our separate ways.
I went ahead followed the direction that Mr. y gave me and started looking for the said pharmacy, I never found it after about one hour of tireless search I decided to return to where I left Mr. y and Mr. x on getting back there I didn’t see them, they had disappeared, long gone. It was then it began to sink in, I started piecieng the puzzle together and it dawned on me that I had been scammed (Mr. X and y obviously knew each other and were scamming me right from the very beginning).
At this point I was tired sad and confused, too ashamed to even raise an alarm, I decided to return home, when I got home, when i was asked what had happened, I was too ashamed to tell them the truth I just told them that I had been robbed.
I posted this story not for the senseless people who will start hauling insults at me, but to help the sensible people here, so as not to fall victim of this scammers, if I had read a similar story like this before this incident happened I wouldn’t have fallen victim of this scammers, I hope this helps someone out there and I hope this story gets to the front page.[b][/b] dont be too hard on yourself, you may have been hypnotized. It happens. Sorry about that |
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