…Victim alleges threat to life after losing N250,000
By Job Osazuwa
At the moment, Kenneth Anene Ikechukwu is in shock after being duped by a fraudster posing as a visa agent.
Ikechukwu said he still rues the loss of his hard-earned N250,000 to the fraudster. He is greatly pained that the man caused him to lose his job and personal effects that he sold to raise the money.
He told Daily Sun that his ordeal started when he was deceived into believing that he could make a fortune in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), if he got a visa to live and work there. So he resigned from his job as a sales representative, just before the supposed visa was out, to pursue the prospect. He said his expectations were high and he was already counting the money he would be making while overseas.
“Everything looked so real. So I had to resign from my job and even auctioned most of my valuables,” Ikechukwu said.
He recalled how in mid-2014, his friend, Fatai, who had returned from Dubai, told him about a certain Rabiu who assisted people to procure visas.
When he contacted Rabiu, who was then in Dubai, the ‘visa agent’ gave him all the requirements for the visa, promising that the document would be ready in one month.
Ikechukwu related his ordeal: “He told me that lots of cleaning, security and driving jobs were available at that time in Dubai. So I told him I would go for the driving job because I had been driving in Lagos as a sales representative. I didn’t doubt him for once because my friend said many beautiful things about how Rabiu helped him while he was in Dubai.
“We continued the discussion on Whatsapp and through telephone calls. He said all I was to pay was N520,000, including airfare, but I would only make a deposit of N150,000 for him to start work. So I paid.”
Ikechukwu said he became suspicious when Rabiu forwarded another person’s account number to him, asking him to deposit the money. He recalled asking why he didn’t send his own account details. Rabiu explained that he was not in the country at the time and that it was easier for the third party to transfer the money to him.
After payment, Ikechukwu said he sent a copy of his international passport photo page and recent photographs to Rabiu as he requested, but many days after he didn’t hear from Rabiu. That was when his suspicions were confirmed.
“Three weeks after, he requested I paid another N100,000, which he needed to settle some of his bosses at the airline. After convincing me that everything was almost ready, I sent him the N100,000,” he said, regretting that he had get take a loan to pay the money.
He was surprised again when Rabiu sent another account number, different from the one into which he paid the initial N150,000. But when he drew Fatai’s attention to the latest development, the agent’s friend assuaged his fears.
Two months after the last transaction, Rabiu had not got in touch with him. Then it appeared as if his world was crumbling.
“When I called Rabiu, he told me to go and do HIV/AIDS test. I did as he suggested, scanned the test result and sent to him. When he received it, he stopped communicating with me and proceeded to change his telephone numbers.
“The Fatai, who was the go-between,, began to contact people in Dubai because he was there with Rabiu at a time. His friend, Kenny, then told us that Rabiu had also collected money from another person without giving him any visa. He then advised us to pretend as if we needed a visa. He said that would force him to come out from hiding. So we began to use another person to negotiate a new deal with Rabiu. And Rabiu instantly became interested.
“In June last year, Fatai and I made arrangements to see Rabiu when we learnt he was in Nigeria. He hesitated for about three weeks before he agreed to meet us at an eatery in Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, to collect the sum of N600,000 he asked us to pay for the new visa. He had not seen me before that day.
“We went to the place with a mobile policeman who was in mufti. From the description he gave, when I sighted him inside the eatery, I signaled other people to come in. When he saw Fatai, he knew there was trouble,” Ikechukwu said.
He said Rabiu was promptly arrested and taken to Ile-Epo Police Station at Agbado Oke-Odo area, adding that he spent the night at the police station before his uncle, one Makinde, came to bail him the following morning. It was gathered that Rabiu explained to the police that when he applied for Ikechukwu’s visa, UAE changed its boarding procedures. But when he was asked why he couldn’t explain to his client, Rabiu allegedly became quiet.
“He didn’t deny collecting the money from me because I presented the tellers I used in paying him to the police. At the end, he paid N50,000 that day and wrote an undertaking that he would pay the balance at the end of July. But that never happened. When I later threatened to arrest Makinde who stood for him, he paid N30,000 into my account.
“That was the last time I heard from them. When I eventually reached Rabiu, he threatened that it would not take him more than a day to terminate me, boasting that he had the spiritual power to do so. He said I was too small to threaten him with police arrest.”
According to Ikechukwu, every effort to trace Rabiu and his uncle since then have failed. Whenever he called Rabiu’s line, the suspect would ignore him. Even text messages sent to him were never responded to. Ikechukwu alleged that he couldn’t locate the address in Agbara, Ogun State, which Makinde gave the police.
He is now urging anyone who knows Rabiu;s whereabouts to inform him so he would recover his money, lamenting that he has been through hell, as he sold all his valuables, quit his job and rented out his apartment. He has been sleeping in a church for months because he does not have anything to fall back on.
Ikechukwu advised Nigerians wishing to travel abroad to be wary of people like Rabiu, who were only out to dupe them.
A source at Ile-Epo Police Station who craved anonymity said: “It is true that the case was brought before us. Our role is to ensure that no citizen is oppressed, but there is a limit to where the police could go in recovering debt.”
Calls to Rabiu’s cell phone number were not taken. At other times, his line was switched off. A text message requesting him to tell his own side of the story got no reply. The mobile phone line of his uncle, Makinde, was equally switched off.