I was busy chatting with my friend on Blackberry messenger when i received a request from an unknown person. He introduced himself as James Kingston from Edinburgh, Scotland. He continued by inquiring about my job and city i reside in. He then went further by asking if i could come on webcam so he could see who he was chatting with. I then declined telling him i use a blackberry device. Her further inquired on why i don't have any Apple device considering how common it has become these days. I replied with a negative while wondering why he was so desperate to see me.
This was when he dropped the bomb. He said he would buy me an apple device which he would send to me. This caught me by surprise as i never imagined someone somewhere in the world who doesn't even know you would do such a thing. Later that evening, he sent pictures of the Apple devices he purportedly bought foe me. They are pictured below.
This was when he dropped the bomb. He said he would buy me an apple device which he would send to me. This caught me by surprise as i never imagined someone somewhere in the world who doesn't even know you would do such a thing. Later that evening, he sent pictures of the Apple devices he purportedly bought foe me. They are pictured below.
I was so amazed and surprised at the same time. A part of me was happy about the prospects of being a proud owner of an iPhone 6 and a MacBook Pro. I imagined on how much fun blogging on an Apple laptop would be. I even thought to myself the Lind Ikeji doesn't even use an Apple laptop yet see how much she's accomplished with her blog. I thought on how much fun mobile blogging would be.
CDQ and WizKids track 'No wo e soke was on replay' . I practically danced all night .
Meanwhile he had asked for my Name and address as that would be needed for him to ship my gift. So i gave him my post office box address. He also asked for my city and phone number. I was cautious, I knew the probability of it being a scam was high. It just sounded too good to be true, being a thorough bred Lasgidi boy myself, gimmicks and scams like this are not new to me. I knew it was only a matter of time before the whole thing would unfold. I even knew where they were driving at. I knew at some point they would request for money for either customs or shipping.
Then the next day came. My new friend James Kingston was supposed to ship his gift to me in Nigeria. i patiently waited until evening when he would drop a BBM message. Later that night, his message came through, he said he was not able to ship the Package. he promised he would do it without fail the next day.
It now became glaring to me that it was a scam. So i just played along to see the outcome. The next day, true to his word, he said he had sent the package he also sent this document as proof. He has shipped it through British Airways cargo service and i would receive the package in the next 6 to 8 hours.
Then he sent this.
i then called the customer service number +2349054612746. and he forwarded his bank details so i can make payments to cover shipping services from Abuja to my address in Lagos.
It wasn't long after i was fully convinced that he was a scam that a neighbor called me on the phone to find out on what address he would send to someone abroad who wanted to send him a package. It was then obvious to me he was about to fall prey for the same scam. In his own case, it was a woman. i told him he should just chill till we see so i can get full details on the person who was about to send him a 'package'.
Only God know how many people would have fallen for this cheap scam so i thought i should share so other people can be careful about a stranger who wants to send them gifts.
Kindly share this on Facebook and Twitter for others to learn from this crazy experience.
Follow @gidiLink
Sign up here with your email