“I was certain I didn’t blink” | Nigerian lady narrates how she was scammed of $4000

When Ada (not real name) set out for her bank transactions on that fateful Friday, October 13, she was oblivious of the incident waiting to happen.

After withdrawing $4000 from a commercial bank in Marina, Lagos, the accountant was approaching her car when a random northerner dressed in his traditional wear, posing as a bureau de change operator advanced towards her and asked “Madam you wan change dollars?”

An unsuspecting Ada responded in the affirmative and they started haggling price. After a few backs and forths, he agreed to her terms either because he was eager to get his intention over and done with or due to the amount of money he heard her mention.

Ada wanted the money in cash as she still had to deposit into six different accounts. The fake exchanger quickly got on his phone and called his accomplices, while speaking Hausa.

As they waited for his colleagues in her car, Ada deemed it thoughtful to get his phone contact for subsequent and future transactions. She asked him and he called out some random numbers, urging her to save it immediately in order to cover his tracks.

But she dialed the number and the voice of a Yoruba woman came up at the other end. She quickly apologised and ended the call, then asked her new ‘friend’ why he gave her a wrong contact. He giggled and said, “Madam no vex, I just buy this SIM. I no know my number again.”

She collected his phone, dialed her number and saved his contact. While all these happened, his friends still did not show up. She became apprehensive and said she was leaving but he persisted and pleaded that they would arrive soon.

Some minutes later, his two friends arrived. One of them holding a nylon bag, which he claimed contained the Naira equivalent of $4000 got into the front seat while his counterpart sat at the back. At this point, the first ‘exchanger’ who approached her already alighted.

The ‘mallam’ at the back then said he needed to see the dollars before he proceeds with the transaction and to the bank where the Naira will be counted with a machine. Ada reached for her bag, brought out forty pieces of $100 notes, neatly arranged in a white envelope and handed it to him. They started counting together.

“I had my eyes glued to the money. I didn’t blink, I was certain I didn’t blink,” Ada said confidently. She added that his hands were shaky while he counted. “He handed it back to me immediately,” she said.

Ada placed the money tightly under her armpit, while the scammers conversed in Hausa. They told her the transaction could continue and they were ready to go to the bank to count the Naira bills. They stepped out of the car, just like Ada, who attempted to lock her car but realised that the guy at the back left the door fully opened. She turned around, closed the door and locked the car. By the time she was ready, the operators were nowhere to be found.

‘Maybe they walked too fast’, she thought. She started walking towards Marina where they headed, increasing her speed as she walked but they already vanished.

She was furious at the thought of them wasting her time before realising that something felt out of place.

She quickly walked back to her car, got in, shut the door and brought out the envelope from her armpit where she had kept it all along.

“I screamed…it was all counterfeited notes. 40 pieces of counterfeited $100 notes,” Ada lamented.

Till this moment, Ada has been unable to fathom how the real notes were swapped in her not so spacious car, under her very watchful eyes.

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