Lekan Adeoye (not real name), a Lagos resident, has narrated how he lost the sum of N30,000 paid for the purchase of a phone to an Instagram Vendor, 3C Hub.

Lekan said that on November 19, 2022, he surfed through Instagram for a new phone and found 3C Hub.

“A lot of vendors were doing Black Friday sales during that period, so I checked Instagram and saw a Tecno Camon 19 Pro phone for N60,000 on 3C Hub’s Instagram page,” said Lekan.

“I sent a message indicating that I wanted to buy the phone and asked when I was going to receive it.”

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He noted that he received a response stating that he would receive the phone the following day if he made a 50 percent down payment that day and the balance on delivery the following day.

“The incident happened on a Saturday, and I got an assurance from the vendor that the phone would be delivered the following morning after I made the 50 percent down payment,” he said.

“He even told me not to doubt because I would be paying the money directly to the company’s account.”

Lekan told FIJ that he had earlier seen on the company’s page that it accepted 50 percent down payment with an agreement that the balance would be paid on delivery.

“The vendor sent the company’s account number and requested that I make the 50 percent down payment, after which a dispatch rider would be sent to deliver the item the following day,” he said.

“I agreed and paid that on Saturday.”

Lekan told FIJ that he got an invoice afterwards and was expectant.

“On Sunday, around 9 am, I called the vendor stating that nobody had called yet. I got an assurance that somebody would call and I would receive some text messages before the dispatch rider called,” he said.

The story, however, took a different twist when the dispatch rider called Lekan to ask for a confirmation code.

According to him, the dispatch rider notified him that he could only get the code after he made full payment.

“The dispatch rider said I needed to pay the balance before the phone would be delivered, which was not the initial agreement,” said Lekan.

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“I called the vendor and explained to him what the dispatch rider said. Surprisingly, the vendor said that was how the company operated.

“He even told me to forget about the phone if I didn’t make the full payment, which was not the initial agreement.

“We got into a heated argument afterwards and the vendor repeatedly remained adamant that I paid the balance.”

Lekan told FIJ that he didn’t get a refund or the phone to date.

He added that he reached out to his bank, Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), Oregun branch, to report the incident, which, to him, was fraudulent.

He was told to write a letter, which he did.

“The second week after writing the letter, I received a mail that they were on it, but till date, no progress has been made,” he said.

FIJ placed a call and sent a text to the vendor on Tuesday.

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During the phone call, the vendor refused to address the claim. Messages sent to him via WhatsApp have also not been responded to.