Per recent indicators, Nigerian talents have been emigrating their country in search of greener pastures at an alarming rate.
An African Polling Institute survey in 2022 found that 69% of Nigerians would relocate overseas with their families if they have the opportunity.
Two years prior, Afrobarometer reported that one in every three Nigerians considered ‘travelling out’ as an option due to the state of Nigeria’s economy. With the pressure to leave intensifying by the year, Nigerians have also been more susceptible to trafficking, travel frauds and visa scams.
In light of this, FIJ spoke to some individuals who claimed to be victims of a United Kingdom visa scam by the First Free-Risk Global Travels, a Lagos based travel agency. The agency’s registration details showed the agency was located at 6B, Odebiyi Oroja, Ajasa Road, Lagos State.
‘FIRST FREE’S OWNER BLOCKED ME AFTER I PAID TO HIM’
When Babajide Balogun learnt about First Free-risk Global Services in August 2019, it seemed like the perfect time. As a Lagos-based civil engineer with limited job options, he had finally decided to join other Nigerians trooping to the United Kingdom to seek greener pastures.
Coincidentally, his friend brought up a conversation about a potentially cost-effective travel agent in Lagos around the same time. Negotiations began in earnest between Balogun and Babatope Oluwaseun Ayeyo, the owner of First Free-Risk Global Travels.
“Even though I was wary of travel agents, it did not take much to convince me. He seemed very responsive and he was very good at selling his job. He initially told me to pay N500,000, but I could not afford it. We negotiated and we agreed that I would pay in instalments. We also agreed that I’d pay N200,000 at first,” Balogun said in his interview with FIJ.
On September 9, about a month after their first contact, Ayeyo had succeeded in convincing Balogun to pay the first instalment for travel documents.
“About a month later, I sent him the first instalment. He contacted me again that I would need to do a biometrics capture and told me to send another N165,000. I obliged and sent it to him. I also followed the steps he instructed me to follow and I sent the information he told me to send,” Balogun explained further.
Balogun told FIJ that, after the supposed biometrics data capture, it suddenly became impossible to get through to Ayeyo.
“After the biometrics capture, I asked him for the next step and, he has been posting me. He did not reply texts and he did not respond to calls. To confirm that he got my messages, I told him I would take his case up with the police and he blocked my WhatsApp,” Balogun said.
“Upon the first public complaint I made about him, I got responses from other people that he had done something similar to them. Some complained of N2 million, others N1.5 million.”
‘HE REPLIED ME RECENTLY THAN OTHERS, BUT IT’S BEEN MORE THAN THREE MONTHS‘
To establish if there was a pattern or Balogun’s case was just an outlier, FIJ reached out to Ajayi Olasoji*, another customer of First Free-Risk Global Services.
In Olasoji’s account, he had made contact with Ayeyo through text as recently as three weeks before the interview. However, Ayeyo’s messages, reactions and response time had been giving him reasons to worry.
“He has not blocked me, at least not yet. I have heard from other people that he had blocked them. I think my circumstances are a bit different,” Olasoji began.
“I have known him before he started the travel business, he is among a long chain of friends I have. I wanted him to do two things for me, including a study Visa to the United Kingdom. We paid him N6 million naira.”
Olasoji also explained that Ayeyo promised a one-month delivery time for a premium price.
“He told me everything will be ready in one month if I paid the balance. I did not negotiate much. It’s been three months already. He postpones responses and promises to reach out on latter dates, but he never does. I am still hopeful, I am still giving him the benefit of the doubt. We’ve known each other, that should mean something,” Olasoji told FIJ.
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AYEYO HAS A HISTORY OF BLOCKING HIS CLIENTS
FIJ further gathered, from activities connected to the company’s social media page, that Ayeyo and First Free-Risk Global had been alleged of similar heists in the past with no resolution.
In February, Segun, a Nigerian X user who claimed to be friends with a victim placed a N500,000 bounty on Ayeyo’s head. By his account, the victim paid more than N2,500,000 to Ayeyo before he was blocked off all means of communication.
When FIJ contacted Segun, he explained how they saw Ayeyo’s brand on Instagram and how he blocked them after getting paid for work visa. He also told FIJ how the scam damaged his friend’s finances and left him confused and unsure of how to proceed with emigrating.
“My friend wasn’t able to travel again, he lost a lot of money and doesn’t even know where to start from right now. We need him apprehended as soon as possible,” Segun told FIJ.
A year prior to Segun’s public complaint, another X user with the username James Glory had accused Ayeyo of defrauding him. In his tweet, he advised other people against doing business with Ayeyo.
AYEYO STOPS RESPONDING TO MESSAGES
On August 30, FIJ sent an email to Ayeyo, copying First Free-Risk Global Services’ address. FIJ also sent him text messages. In response to FIJ’s text, Ayeyo requested for the transaction details of the sources.
However, after FIJ provided these details, Ayeyo stopped responding to messages. Ayeyo had not sent any response to FIJ’s request for information on the status of Babajide’s transaction at press time.
Ayeyo’s is WhatsApp profile suggests he is in Birmingham, England. However, Olasoji told FIJ that he had reasons to doubt Ayeyo’s location.
“Last time when a friend of ours went to the United Kingdom and wanted to go see him, he claimed to have travelled for three weeks. All we know is that he said he travelled,” he said.
All of First Free-risk Global Services’ social media accounts also appeared defunct with the most recent posts dating as far back as 2019 and 2020.
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