Published 12th Dec, 2021

By Emmanuel Uti

An Abuja-based engineer has narrated how a group of scammers disguised as staff members of the popular Angel Park Place Hotel in the city defrauded him of N61,000.

On Tuesday, the engineer, who asked not to be named, decided to book a hotel online, knowing he would spend the day at the immigration office in Abuja.

He eventually chose Park Place Hotel in Utako and called the phone number he found on Google.

“When I called, one Collins picked up and identified himself as the receptionist. I told him I would like to book a room and he immediately told me their fee was N9,000 per day, adding that I would have to pay before he would book the room,” he told FIJ.

The engineer did not hesitate to pay N9,000 via his bank’s USSD code. Some minutes later, he called the supposed receptionist to ask if he had received the money, but the latter claimed that the network connection was poor and that he had not received the money.

“He told me not to get offended but to be patient as he would send me a confirmation code when he got the alert. Believing him, I waited. Minutes later, he sent a link and asked me to click on it,” he said.

The engineer realised something was wrong on clicking the link. His bank began debiting him in batches until only N4,000 was in his account.

“At first, I thought that my bank debited me for something else, but I later realised that it came from the supposed hotel receptionist. I told my fiancee, who called him immediately to ask for a refund. He did not say anything apart from urging her to pay for another room. Others mumbled in the background,” he said.

“My fiancee explained that she was not going to initiate another transaction, insisting that they refund the N61,000 they had got from me, but Collins kept sounding stupid.”

In annoyance, the engineer’s fiancee went to the Angel Park Place Hotel, screaming at any staff member she found. She told a managerial officer how unprofessional a staff member had acted.

“When the manager asked her who the staffer was, she mentioned Collins. The manager said no worker at the hotel bore ‘Collins’. She showed her the phone number that we contacted, but the manager said it did not belong to any of their receptionists,” he said.

On hearing the conversation between the manager and the engineer’s fiancee, a staff member screamed, “Them don scam you o“.

The hotel staff, who identified the phone number as that of a scammer, said many people had complained about the number being used to defraud unsuspecting customers of Angel Park Place.

“What I saw online was Park Place Hotel, but the actual name is Angel Park Place Hotel,” he said.

When FIJ called Collins’ number, it was switched off. However, a quick search on True Caller app revealed that the number displayed on Google as the hotel’s number belongs to one Daniel Dape, a barber.

FIJ placed several calls to Angel Park Place Hotel, but they were unanswered. At press time, they had also not responded to a text message sent to their phone.

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