“All I wanted from Dr Igudia was a cure for my husband who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2013, but I was defrauded instead.”

Those were the words of Marie Victoria (not real name), a United Kingdom resident, after she paid £11,000 to one Igudia, a Nigerian who calls himself a herbal doctor, for a yet-to-be-delivered medication last year August.

Victoria told FIJ she contacted Dr Igudia on June 13, 2022, with the hope of getting some herbal medications to cure her husband’s diabetes.

She said she had came across the doctor’s YouTube channel, which was filled with positive feedback and reviews from his customers.

“My husband suffers a lot from this illness, and I just wanted something that would take his pain away, so I contacted the doctor via his WhatsApp number available on his page,” says the UK resident.

READ ALSO: After Taking $880, Nigerian ‘Herbal Doctor’ Igudia Blocks Mauritian Diabetic Who Contacted Him for Cure

FAKE SHIPPING COMPANY… A CYCLE OF LIES

Victoria told FIJ that she was initially reluctant to buy the medications since the doctor wanted her to send the money via Western Union instead of eBay or Amazon.

“This is because it’s quite difficult finding my address, but he encouraged me to pay. When I sent the initial money via Western Union, it was reversed. Then he said I should use Money Gram, and I sent £472 with a processing fee of £9 for medications on June 28, 2022,” she said.

“He asked for custom clearance fees to send and receive the package. I sent £130 plus £5.50 for the former on June 29, then I sent £240 plus £5.50 for the latter on July 3.”

The doctor defrauded this UK resident, who was desperate to lay hands on medications that would cure her husband’s illness.

FIJ learnt that Victoria conducted 26 transactions, all amounting to £11,021.5, between June 28 and August 26, 2022. Out of of the money, £10,820 was for medications, delivery and a court case, among other concocted fees, while £201.5 was for the total charges on each transaction.

Rather than deliver the medication to the UK or even refund the customer’s money, Dr Igudia has gone mute since August.

“I had to pay £80 delivery fee, yet I never received my package. I insisted that he call me before delivering the parcel. Then Dr Igudia said my parcel was lost and the shipping company would pay for the cost and damages,” she said.

“However, I sensed that he never sent the parcel and he only made up the story. The so-called shipping company chatted with me via WhatsApp and asked me to pay some money.”

Victoria also told FIJ that the herbal doctor had said he would send the package via the United Parcel Service (UPS) but she was surprised to see some emails from a shipping company identified as Emergency Storage Delivery.

Meanwhile, a Google search of the delivery company’s website revealed that the site had been suspended.

UNFRUITFUL COURT CASE

Victoria told FIJ that the shipping company kept telling her that the UK bank was making it difficult to pay her for the lost package.

“To tackle the bank hitch, the shipping company asked for some money. I always asked Dr Igudia for advice, and he told me that the shipping company’s manager showed him all the papers and promised to do everything to make the transfer happen. But all the promises turned out to be fake,” she also disclosed.

Dr Igudia then urged her to send the required money to settle the shipping company so she would get a refund.

“Each time I sent money to Dr Igudia, he would tell me he made the payment to the shipping company. I told him I wanted the shipping company’s UK agent to accompany me to the bank to know why they refused to transfer my money, but the shipping company stopped replying to me after then,” she said.

“That was when Dr Igudia encouraged me to sue them, but I never wanted that. He said suing them would resolve the issue in 10 days, so I gave in and sent him money to pay the lawyer.

“Then he asked for money to take the case to the Supreme Court. He later asked for money to pay the judge to make the judgement faster. He asked for more money to pay the judge to make the final judgement.”

Even though she did not have the money to pay all these fees, Victoria told FIJ she borrowed from her friends. Besides, she was expecting a refund, which she would have used to pay up the debts.

READ ALSO: Doctor Invested $1000 With Solflex International Trading Company 3 Years Ago. He’s Got Nothing

Victoria also noted that all the money she transferred was sent to a Money Gram account which belonged to one OKOJIE Eizito Ewanlen in Gambia.

“I made a total of 26 transactions to Dr Igudia, all amounting to £11,021.5, out of which £10,820 was for the payment while 201.5 was for the total charges on each transaction,” she said.

Although Dr Igudia told Victoria that they won after the purported court case, the doctor stopped communicating with the UK resident afterwards.

“He told me my refund from the shipping company was £25,000. I messaged him, but there was no reply. I called him, yet no response,” he said.

Victoria said she did not hear from the herbal doctor for a long time after the last payment she made for the lawyer on August 26.

“I received a message from Dr Igudia’s WhatsApp number, saying the owner of the phone (Dr Igudia) had been kidnapped,” she said.

“The day after that, the doctor chatted with me and claimed that his kidnappers gave him the phone so he could contact his loved ones to send money to them.

“He asked for 650 pounds, but at that point, I was tired. I had nothing on me to give.”

“At the same time, I saw him replying to people on his YouTube channel. That was when I understood that I had been defrauded. I am really stressed out and depressed. Many of my friends who borrowed me money are waiting to get their money back.”

Meanwhile, all efforts to reach Dr Igudia for comments proved abortive as the messages sent to him had not been responded to at press time. The two numbers obtained on his social media page were also switched off.