Moses Babajide, an Ondo-based app developer specialising in digital assets, needed to buy a Google Play Console Developer account in December. When he came across a Facebook user based in Nasarawa State who had one for sale, he had to look for someone willing to meet the seller on his behalf.
In his search for a Nasarawa resident, he found Musa Idris Abubakar who claimed he was a student living in the state. What was supposed to be a seamless business deal between Babajide and the third-party seller, with Abubakar as the intermediary, ended in shambles after Abubakar received N215,000 from the app developer.
Babajide told FIJ that he would not have engaged Abubakar in the purchase process had the seller not turned down his offer for an escrow service. An escrow generally refers to money held by a third party on behalf of transacting parties.

Babajide sometimes buys old Google Play Console accounts to publish applications because new accounts come with “strict policies that make publishing an app hard”. So, when the third party in Nasarawa had one for sale, he did not want to miss the opportunity.
The Ondo resident had suggested to the seller that they could use an escrow service for the business deal. This means Babajide would pay an escrow agent, who would hold on to the money and after the seller must have successfully transferred the account details to the buyer, the escrow would then disburse the money to the seller.
However, a screen recording of the chats between Babajide and the Nasarawa-based seller revealed that the seller rejected the offer. Citing past disappointments with online transactions, the seller preferred either a face-to-face arrangement or a deal requiring the buyer to pay a portion of the fees in advance.
Because Babajide barely knew the seller, he opted to look for someone he could trust to meet with the person in Nasarawa. He and Abubakar were members of a WhatsApp group of bloggers. Babajide posted a message on the WhatsApp group on December 13, seeking a resident of Nasarawa.
Abubakar sent Babajide a message at 10 pm on that day to indicate that he was in the north-central state.
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The duo would then discuss how the purchase would go. Babajide first sent him N4,000 as transport fare to meet the seller the next day.

They agreed that Abubakar would serve as the middleman between Babajide and the seller. Upon Abubakar’s meeting with the seller and confirmation that the console account was in good condition, Babajide would transfer the money to the middleman. Then once the seller hands over the account details to Babajide, the middleman would transfer the money to the seller.
“Before he met with the seller, he told me that he was going to the mosque. On hearing this, I relaxed because I felt this was someone who feared God and probably someone I could trust,” Babajide told FIJ.
“I felt since he was someone who could pray in the midst of a deal like that, it meant he puts God first, so I did not expect any gimmicks. When he met with the seller, the seller confirmed to me that he was with him.
“Abubakar told me the Google Play console account was in good shape, but the seller was insisting on seeing the money first before releasing the account details. I agreed to send the money and told him not to play games with me.
“I sent him N215,000. It was even supposed to be N210,000, but I just sent that N5,000. This was besides the additional N20,000 I promised to pay him for his help once the purchase was successful.”
FIJ learnt that before he sent the N215,000 to Abubakar, Babajide requested a link to his Facebook page. He said he had come across a particular account that he suspected was his, using the full name on the middleman’s OPay account, where he had transferred the transport fare, but wanted him to be sure.
“His Facebook profile was unlocked at the time, after I had requested his profile link and he had sent it, this guy went to lock it. When I asked him why, I did not suspect that he was trying to play games. He said he did not lock it and asked me to send him a friend request. But I still did not suspect that anything could go wrong,” Babajide told FIJ.

“Before I sent him the money, he told me to send it in two parts: some amount to his Moniepoint account and the rest to his OPay.
“He said his daily limit on OPay was N200,000 and he had made some transactions already. I was to send N150,000 to OPay and N65,000 to Moniepoint.”
Babajide sent the money to Abubakar as instructed.




Babajide told FIJ that just after sending the N215,000 to Abubakar, the seller told him that he was no longer cooperating with him.
“I tried calling Musa (Abubakar) himself on WhatsApp but it was not going through. I reached out to him via normal call, but his phone was switched off,” Babajide said.
“My heart started beating fast. I called the seller himself since the middleman was with him, and he said he (Abubakar) did not want to take the phone.
“After that day, he deleted the link to his Facebook profile, which he had sent to me. But I went to my Google Chrome history to retrieve it and I found that he had blocked me on Facebook.”
The app developer mentioned that he reported the N215,000 transfers to Abubakar’s bankers — Moniepoint and OPay — that day. Both financial institutions froze Abubakar’s accounts.
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“This guy messaged me that day after his account had been frozen to apologise. He said he’s a student in Nasarawa, but I have no idea which school it is. He said he was pursuing a deal and that once he gets the deal, he would refund the money to me.
“Moniepoint and OPay said that he had withdrawn all the money from the accounts before they got to freeze them.
“He also showed no sign of remorse after defrauding me,”
When FIJ contacted Abubakar on January 20, he did not deny taking N215,000 from Babajide and failing to honour his end of the bargain.
His response to FIJ reads in part: “I will pay him the sum of N250,000 in March. I used the money for business, and I hope I will have profit, and if he [wishes to] let me be paying him small small. [I] am ok for [with] that.”

He then asked FIJ to instruct Babajide to tell OPay to unfreeze his account.
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