- 12 sites under police investigation
Atrending fraud being perpetrated through the use of the popular social media, Instagram, is fast gaining ground and unsuspecting Nigerians are daily losing their hard-earned money to the antics of the fraudsters.
Mostly affected are city dwellers, who have the extra cash to part with amid the current harsh economic realities. Reports have it that an average of 10 persons lose their money in the course of doing business through Instagram, which is ordinarily used to connect friends and family by sharing personal photos and videos on the internet.
A police source at the Force Criminal Investigations Department, Alagbon Close, Lagos, told The Point that “Instagram has lately assumed notoriety as it has become a hub for fraudsters, who have derailed the intention of those who created the social network from its original plan.”
The source told The Point that no fewer than 12 of such cases bothering on fraud through Instagram were currently being investigated by the FCID. It was learnt that fraudsters now cash in on the large-scale business traffic on the site, as people across the country use it to showcase goods and services available for sale.
The site, it was further learnt, has continuously inspired business startup entrepreneurs, who realise that an online market of that nature does not require an official website or physically established shop.
The police said that the business concept that generated such a huge traffic has been bastardised by some dubious individuals, who simply create fake business accounts to pull the wool over the eyes of genuine customers, by defrauding them without fulfilling their own part of the bargain.
Victims that were bold enough to report such cases to the police said they had been duped several times through fake business transactions available on the social media website.
A poet, Mr. Sunday Babatola, told The Point that he lost some amount of money to a fake business owner, who hosted a website on Instagram. Babatola said he thought that the site was genuine, until he was proved wrong by the marketers, who closed down their website after few months.
Detectives investigating some websites already given to them said they would not want the operators to know until the long arms of the law catch up with them. “We have three websites under investigation.
We are making progress. We hope to get them arrested very soon,” a police source said. Another victim, who shared her experience with The Point, Mrs. Ijeoma Ndubuisi, said that she lost “cool N29,000 to the fake business.
” “I know that I would not be the only victim, because I was introduced to the website by a friend, who initially made some purchases through the website.
Therefore, all hope is not lost, though I have reported the matter to the police,” Ndubuisi said. Also relating her experience, a hair dresser, living at Ajangbadi, Lagos, Miss Kehinde Aloba, said, “My mind did not do it, but I wanted to prove to my neighbours that I had equally moved up.
The dispatch rider who brought my goods arrived quite well. He said I should pay for the goods before inspection. Curiosity made me to pay, only for the guy to hand over to me some useless papers and broken bottles and zoomed off.
By the time I realised this, he was gone. I called his line to no avail. I do not know where to find him. I have forgotten about it and moved on with my life.”
However, the Police Public Relations Officer for Zone II, comprising Lagos and Ogun states, Superintendent Muyiwa Adejobi, said, “It would amount to sheer foolishness to pay for goods that have not been inspected.”
Adejobi, a superintendent of police, warned online shoppers to be weary of sites they patronise on the internet. He said that Nigerians should be aware of many fraudulent sites being hosted by fraudulent and dubious persons on the internet.
