A Lagos State resident, who simply wished to be identified as Yunus, has narrated how two property fraudsters defrauded him of N490,000.

Speaking with FIJ, Yunus said he met the two fraudsters while searching for a new accommodation in late February.

“I met the two of them while in search of a new apartment towards February ending,” Yunus said.

“I first saw the agent’s banner around Alapere in Ketu, Lagos, during the period and I copied it. When I contacted him, we arranged to meet.

“When we eventually met at Barracks Bus Stop in Ogudu, he introduced himself as ‘Jere’. From the meeting point, we went to check three apartments.

“We got to an apartment located at No 8, Bola Adegboro Street in Ogudu and I liked it. On the spot, I paid him a consultancy fee of N3,000. The apartment consisted of a parlour, a bedroom, a kitchen and a toilet.

“While we were talking, he said it was best he gave me the landlord’s number. When I called the landlord, who I believe bears the name Samuel Opeyemi Adeshina, he said I was to pay a rent of N400,000.

“He then said the agency, agreement and caution fees would cost me an additional N150,000.”

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Yunus told FIJ that he went on to pay the N400,000 rent to Samuel before meeting him in person.

“Because I had seen the apartment and the agent had also assured me that there was nothing to be worried about, I paid the rent into Samuel’s account,” he said.

“I would have preferred the option of first meeting with him before making the payment, but he said he was busy and that it would take him a long period before he could see me.”

In addition to the N400,000 rent, Yunus said he also transferred N50,000 and N40,000 as agreement and caution fee respectively to Samuel.

“In all, I transferred N490,000 to Samuel,” Yunus said.

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“After I made the payment, he said he was going to come with a carpenter on Saturday, March 11, to do some carpentry works in the kitchen and in the bedroom.

“On Saturday, I called him to find out whether he was already at the apartment but he said he would soon be on his way. However, when I did not see any sign that he was willing to come as he had promised, I visited the apartment around 4 pm.”

Yunus said he met a shocker when he got to the apartment.

“On arriving at the apartment, I saw people inside it. They were inspecting the entire place. Because I believed I had duly rented the place, I challenged them, demanding to know why they were inside it,” Yunus said.

“One of the people I met inside the apartment, who later introduced himself as the property agent managing the house, then demanded to know the exact person I paid to. When I told him it was Samuel, he said he did not know him.

“He then told me to call Jere, the agent that first brought me to see the place. When I dialled Jere’s number, he picked my call. When the new agent I met at the place requested to speak to him, Jere immediately ended the call.

“When I dialled his number a second time, it suddenly became unreachable. At that moment, I also tried calling Samuel but discovered that his own number had also been switched off. It was at this point that the agent I met at the apartment told me that the owner of the house is actually a woman, and not a man.

“This was when it dawned on me that I had been swindled. The funniest part is that I have tried doing a little investigation to see if I could get both Samuel and Jere’s pictures, but I have not succeeded in that.”

Yunus transferred the N490,000 to a Sterling Bank account number 0064853973 with the account name ‘Samuel Opeyemi Adeshina’.

The N3,000 consultation fee he had initially paid to Jere was also transferred to a Heritage Bank account number 1003641512 with the account name ‘Olamide Sunday Okeyemi’.

“I am really looking for how both Samuel and Jere can be apprehended by the police. More importantly, I need to recover my money back from them,” Yunus said.

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FIJ made several phone calls to the numbers belonging to both Samuel and Jere on Monday, but they were unreachable. Text messages sent to them had also not been responded to at press time.