Becky Osiele, a Lagos resident, has narrated how she was defrauded of more than N157,000 after enrolling in a fake School of Nursing.

Osiele told FIJ that she came across the fake Facebook page in October, when it called on all prospective students to apply to the School of Nursing, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.

She also said the page directed her to one Faith Adebayo, who claimed to be working at the school’s administration department.

After reaching out to Adebayo, who later introduced herself as the school’s registrar, Osiele said she was sent an account number with an instruction to deposit her registration and admission fees into it.

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“I checked online for the School of Nursing in Ogun State. Someone already told me that she had visited the school and had heard that their admission was done online. So, I saw a post online and contacted the registrar, Dr Faith Adebayo,” Osiele said.

“I called and she told me that the form purchase was about closing. She however later sent the form to me.

“She also sent an account number to me and I deposited N157,000 into it using a POS. I was even convinced I was doing the right thing when I saw that the account name was ‘Nursing Midwifery Council’.

“After I paid for the application form, she sent an admission letter and told me to pay the acceptance fee. I also paid part of the school fees as instructed.”

Osiele told FIJ that she eventually found out that she had been defrauded when she met the school’s actual staff.

She said it was the officials who confirmed to her that Adebayo was not a known staff member of the institution.

“There is a staff member of the school who goes to work from here (Lagos). It was that person who told me that the admission process was not done online, and that I had to visit the school. I visited the school today and they don’t even know any Faith Adebayo,” Osiele told FIJ on Tuesday.

A source, who knew about the incident but asked not to be named, told FIJ that two other people had in the past fallen victim to the same kind of fraud.

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When FIJ contacted Adenike Richards, Principal, School of Nursing, Ijebu-Ode, she confirmed that admissions payments into the school were not made online.

“Admission into the School of Nursing has ended a while ago. The whole admission process ended in August and the new students have already assumed the session. So, all those online forms are fake,” Richards said.

“We are not selling admission forms presently. The sale of forms ended in June and the process was concluded in August. There’s no payment of fees online or in the school. Whoever needs to make a payment will need to go to the ministry first. The ministry will then give directives.”

FIJ also found out that 09161479612 the phone number used by the fraudster, and 7049394271 and 8039517632, the account numbers that received the payments, are all registered with the names ‘School of Nursing’ and ‘Nursing Midwifery Council’ respectively.