How We Lost N300,000 To Scammers During Network Outage-Abuja Resident

A resident of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Elizabeth Eze has narrated how her husband was scammed during the network outage that happened weeks back.

Recall that dozens of African countries, including Nigeria, were rocked with internet service disruption after the undersea cable failed in Ivory Coast.

Eze explained to THE WHISTLER that her husband was called by some people claiming that she was shot by robbers in the stomach and had been rushed to the hospital.

She added that they had told him that they were calling from the hospital where she was taken and urged him to quickly send money to them so that they would start up treatment and save her life.

She explained that her husband, who was out of town, desperately tried to reach her or any other relations of his via phone but couldn’t.

“The incident happened March 14 2024. Scammers are using this opportunity of network fluctuation to scam people. My hubby has been out of town for a while. He got a call that day and was told that robbers came to the house and shot me in the stomach; that I was in a critical condition and needed to be operated on,” she said.

Eze added that her husband who was now in a panic mood after he couldn’t reach anyone, hurriedly transferred the money they requested.

“He transferred N300,000 to them and packed his bags to return immediately. Before he stepped out, he decided to reach out to his siblings to come meet me at the hospital. This time, he got them. They tried my number, luckily it rang and I told them nothing of such happened.

“According to him, when he got that call before transferring the money, he tried reaching almost everyone close to me but the network was bad,” she narrated.

She warned Nigerians to be careful and verify stories from mysterious callers before transferring money.

“Be careful, don’t be in a haste to send money to any mysterious caller. Nigeria is too tough to lose money to fraudulent fellows. We have reported it to the bank but they said the account is not traceable as they have already wiped out money in the account. The network provider also said the phone number wasn’t properly registered.

“We were told the bank account they used was created with an online app, using fake BVN. It is traceable to no one, and the phone number was a ‘roadside registration’,” she narrated.