Oluwayomi Agoroige, an Uber driver, has been accused of making away with a passenger’s N600,000.

Funke Yekinni (not real name), the passenger, said she met Yomi after she was assigned to her ride by Uber. Being a fellow woman, it was not difficult to hold conversations. They talked about various topics, including Yomi’s experience as an Uber driver and the possibility of Yekinni driving for Uber as her secondary job.

After their first meeting, Uber linked the two of them up several times, causing their relationship to go beyond the app.

“We have each other’s number. So, early this year, she messaged me about how God kept connecting us and keeping us together. I thought it was just the usual new year message, so I moved on,” Rebecca said.

However, in January of that year, Yomi called Yekinni to remind her of one of their conversations and inform her that one Uber driver was leaving the country and wanted to sell his car.

“She said the car would go for a million naira, and that she had been able to negotiate with the person. Because she was an Uber driver, I trusted what she said. She told me that was how she acquired her car too,” Yekinni explained.

After an agreement was reached, Yomi took the car, a Toyota Corolla, to Rebecca, who examined it and was satisfied. Later that day, she transferred N600,000, the part payment agreed on for the release of the car, to Yomi. But after payment, her ordeal began.

After money exchanged hands, Yomi stopped answering Yekinni’s calls and it took a while to get hold of her.

“Eventually, she picked up and told me she lost someone and didn’t have time. Of course, I knew she was lying, but I told her I wanted to pay the balance and pick up the car. Again, she stopped answering calls and stopped replying to my messages. Then it dawned on me that it was a scam,” she said.

Yekinni tried different means to locate Yomi, but investigations revealed that the home address attached to her account does not exist.

When contacted through the police, Uber told Yekinni that businesses conducted outside the app were not in their jurisdiction.

“I trusted her because I believed Uber was better than Bolt. If it was someone I met on Bolt, I wouldn’t have even listened to the person. I know the type of people I meet on Bolt,” she said.

Yekinni was informed by a private investigator that Yomi had moved to Port Harcourt. Also, after charging about half of the money lost, the police asked her to leave Yomi alone.

In 2011, an online article claimed that Yomi was sentenced by a court in Abuja on two counts of giving false information and defamation of character. She was also said to have faked her daughter’s kidnap.

FIJ called all of Yomi’s numbers, but none was reachable. A text sent to her had also not been replied to at press time.