Ajoke Bernard (not real name), an Oyo State-based student, has narrated how Chineye Anas defrauded her of N9,000 via WhatsApp.
Bernard told FIJ that Anas swindled her out of the money on March 8.
“Despite not ever speaking to her on the phone before, I strongly believe Anas is a lady,” Bernard told FIJ.
“She first reached out to me via WhatsApp in June 2022. I asked her how she got my number but rather than give a convincing response, she introduced herself as an arts and entertainment influencer.
“She also told me she rewarded her WhatsApp friends’ trust in her once in a while by sending them monetary gifts.”
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Bernard said since their first chat, Anas would regularly send her messages asking her to send amounts ranging from N1,000 to N9,000 in order to receive higher amounts as rewards.
“There were times she would send me such messages, asking that I send N5,000 to get N20,000 in return. She would say the amount I was to receive in return was a reward for my trust in her. During those periods, I would just simply ignore her messages and move on,” the student said.
“On March 8, however, I did not know what came over me. I don’t also want to rule out the possibility that I might have been hypnotised by her. This is because I’am naturally not the kind of person that’d easily fall for such fraudulent moves.
“As soon as she sent the regular money-for-reward message to me, I suddenly showed interest and responded to her. I told her I was interested in sending N5,000 to her so I could get a N12,000 reward.
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“All of a sudden, I again asked her if I could increase the amount I was to send to her, and in the end, I ended up sending N9,000 to her. The intention was to use the N9,000 to get a N28,000 reward.”
Bernard said she would later “regain consciousness” when Anas asked her to add N1,000 to the N9,000 she had earlier transferred to her.
“She called the N1,000 a withdrawal fee,” said Bernard.
“This was when I regained consciousness and realised that I had been swindled. When I subsequently tried reaching her, I discovered she had blocked me on WhatsApp. I know there is no way I can get money back.
“I just want FIJ to put this out there for the general public to see, learn and not fall victim to fraudsters like Anas.”
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FIJ’s findings showed the fraudster’s WhatsApp profile reflected the name ‘Anas Chineye’. The number she used in defrauding Bernard on the platform is +2347046026999. Also, “Arts and entertainment” was written under the number.
The Guaranty Trust Bank account number that received Bernard’s N9,000 payment is 0663409818 and the account name is Johnson Anas.
When FIJ tried calling the number on Thursday morning, it was switched off. WhatsApp messages sent to Anas were also not delivered.
The profile picture used by Anas on her WhatsApp page might have been stolen from the social media page of an innocent individual.
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