It’s easy for the average Lagos resident to dismiss job vacancies offering N10,000 daily, but spotting the loopholes in seemingly legitimate executive remote jobs with mouthwatering salaries is another matter. This was how Chisom Ikenna (pseudonym), a corps member in Lagos, lost N250,000 to fraudsters posing as genuine employers.

Ikenna told EQ that she thought her life would turn around for the better overnight but as she kept spending her savings and taking loans to impress her supposed employer until she had nothing left to give, her life turned for the worse overnight.

She explained that, on June 30, she saw an online job posting for an engineering position offering successful applicants $200 on WhatsApp. She applied that same day, went through the interview and the employer hired her within 48 hours.

“A man who identified himself as Henry Okafor, a civil engineer, interviewed me and later claimed to be my boss. His number was on the posting, so contacting him was easy. He said he was the chief executive officer of Cole Constructions. After I got in, he briefed me on construction matters and said my role was to secure contracts,” Ikenna told EQ.

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She added that Okafor instructed her to be Machiavellian in sealing contracts, as he hired her to hijack deals. When asked if she had a domiciliary account, Ikenna said no. Okafor reassured her but told her to prepare for a contract hijack on July 4.

“He said there was a N500 million deal that companies in Lagos were competing for, and if I could secure it, it would be my first task on the job. He gave me a contact number for the agent in charge of the contract, supposedly linked to Green Estate, which turned out to be false. I was to reach out to the agent and hijack the deal,” Ikenna said.

Receipt of N100,000 withdrawal made by the source to a PoS merchant

“One thing that made me think he was genuine was his claim of being affiliated with Julius Berger. On July 4, I called him, and he instructed me to ensure our competitors did not win the contract. So, on July 5, I went to Costain to meet the agent and convince him.”

In the process of convincing the agent, Ikenna paid N100,000 in cash as a bribe. She told EQ she did this based on Okafor’s assurance that he would reimburse her. According to her, Okafor had earlier advised her to bribe the agent to win his favour.

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“Okafor said he couldn’t fund me because I didn’t have a domiciliary account. So, I paid the agent, Sam, N60,000. He said this was for his escorts as he wanted to enjoy himself. When he agreed to give us the deal, I then gave him N100,000 in cash. He later requested another N50,000, which I also provided. Altogether, I spent N250,000,” she explained.

A chat with Agent Sam, the agent

By August 17, Ikenna had exhausted her funds, and accrued debt, and could no longer afford to continue bribing the agent as his demands kept increasing. Despite this, Okafor tried to pressure her to continue, she said.

“Once, the agent sent me an account number, asking me to pay into it, claiming it belonged to a hotel receptionist. The agent claimed he visited the site to meet the engineers and provided a number for the site engineer. However, I later discovered it was a scam; Truecaller identified it as Okafor’s number,” Ikenna told EQ.

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“I eventually learnt that Okafor and the agent were working together. When I demanded my money back, Okafor claimed he had sent it via Western Union and even provided a fake receipt. When I asked for reimbursement through PayPal, he refused.

“He then claimed he had sent money to an account officer who didn’t respond when I contacted her. Again, Truecaller identified the number as Okafor’s. Before he stopped responding, he asked me to open a virtual account. He provided a contact for this but, when I messaged the number, they requested N10,000. After I had created the account independently, Okafor claimed he had already spent the money and he stopped responding to me.”

When EQ called Okafor on Monday, his line was switched off, and he had not responded to texts sent to his number.
The post How Lagos Corps Member Lost N250,000 to Fake Contract Job appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.