Online shopping all over the world is
supposed to make life easy for shoppers who for one reason or the other do not
have access to such products easily or are too busy to go shop in their
preferred mall.
Due to the busy life in Lagos and
other major cities in Nigeria, many have come to embrace online shopping to
either save time or shop for so many things at a go in a spot without going
through the hassle of moving from one place to the other. This has led to the
spring up of such shopping online platforms in Nigeria.
However, with the advent of the site
OLX Nigeria, where people can advertise their products for free has bring more
pains to gullible Nigerians than the succour the founder intended to bring to
the teaming population of Nigeria especially in major cities like Lagos, Abuja
and Portharcourt.
Fraudsters have made the site their
operation base. They sometime position themselves as custom officers who are
auctioning contrabands seized goods by the Nigerian Customs. For example, in
OLX, a vehicle with market value of N10 million Naira could be advertised for
N300 thousand Naira. This is done to attract the prospect’s attention. When the
prospect put a call through to the purported seller, he will be asked to pay
some money into an account which they claim will be used as processing fees. Sometimes,
the seller will ask anybody that call to make enquiry about the advertised
products where he is calling from (location) so as to know where to claim he
(The Seller) is base. This is to enable him request for more money in the name
of DELIVERY fees. These fraudsters majorly claim to be in Badagry Lagos, Lagos
Island West, Festac, Borny Island,Kubwa in Abuja, Apapa etc.
Many people have been swindled, some killed
in the process of transactions. Fraudsters on this platform don’t only pose as
sellers, some also pretend as buyers. Narrating his experience, Mr Adekunle
Oyewole, who wanted to sell his car, was almost killed in Festac, Lagos.
According to him, he advertised his car on OLX and someone told him to deliver
the car at a location in Festac which he did. On getting there, the car was
forcefully taken from him including his phones and other gadgets. He was tied
and according to him, the assailants were contemplating killing him but one of
the thieves said he should be freed after he was beaten to coma and stripped
naked.
The story of Mr Adekunle is one in
thousands as many people fall victim to these swindlers daily on OLX.
Although, there are also genuine
advertisers and buyers on OLX because a colleague of mine has ordered a laptop
on the platform and it was delivered after which she paid in cash.
It is important to note that, when
shopping for anything on OLX, do not pay any money to anybody in any form until
you see what you are paying for and it is clear to you that it is genuine, not
stolen. Meet the person in a public place.
In developed countries, the same OLX
is very effective and genuine like E-bay and every other online platform, but
many unscrupulous elements in Nigeria have turned it to an avenue to steal and
exploit. Is there anyway the site owner can regulate the activities of users? I
think they should think about it.
BE CAREFUL!
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