By Sunmola Olowookere

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Victor (not real name) is in an expectant mood. He just put a call through to Loveth and she assured him that she was on her way. He looked around his apartment and he was confident that everything was in place. He could not sit still. He wanted every little detail to be perfect.

The scene and the lighting were set for a picturesque romance. He added some more sweet smelling air freshener to the room and nodded with satisfaction as the room was infused with the aroma

As he contemplated the night rendezvous he had planned with Loveth, his heart did flip-flops.

However, he began to sense a foul play when after four hours she had not arrived. By this time, she was no longer picking calls.

To say he was disappointed will be an understatement as she only picked call later in the night and gave him some excuse why she did not honour his invitation.

Many men have at one time or the other been in this shoe whereby they will invite a lady they met on the social media and the ladies will fail to show up for the date after collecting transport fare.

Men seem to be on the war path as many now seek legal redress whenever they are duped in this form.

The social media is often inundated with guys coming up to publicly expose ladies that duped them in this regards along with their chats and the lady’s pictures while they demand for the money that was sent to them. Men are no longer lying low as many unscrupulous ladies now see this gimmick as a means of duping amorous gentlemen that seek them out and they indulge in it.

A guy recently called out a lady on the social media. The gist was that he met the girl on TikTok and they  bonded, they decided to meet in person and get to know each other better.  But unfortunately, they live in different cities, so the girl asked the guy to book a flight for her or send her transport fare so she could come and see him. The guy booked the flight for the lady only for her to reroute the flight to another destination and left him hanging.

The guy said he has been calling the girl to refund him the flight money since it became obvious that she does not want to come and see him but the girl refused to reply to his messages. The guy threatened legal action against her and warned that if she does not refund the money in 24 hours he will make sure that she rot in jail. However, there have been no update whether the lady refunded the money or whether he made good his threat.

 Few months ago, a lady was dragged before a court after she was arrested by the Nigeria police, Enugu state command for the same offence.

Enugu magistrate court ordered her to pay her boyfriend, one Mr. Emeka Nwankwo the sum of N150, 000 because Emeka Nwankwo gave Chinasa Nwibeh, N3,000 as transport money to visit him.

The girl took the money and switched off her phone.

The boyfriend went to a nearby police station and reported the case and she was arrested..

The court ordered her to pay N100, 000 with an additional interest of N50, 000 for emotional damages because the boyfriend was declared emotionally abused by absence of the girlfriend.

The boyfriend, Emeka Nwankwo presented evidence of the mobile money transfer made to her and all the WhatsApp messages they shared to the court

The Judge in her ruling said this was done to serve as a deterrent to ladies who indulge in such act.

Sometimes ago also, a Kenyan court fined a lady for collecting transport fare from her boyfriend and refusing to visit him.

The Kenyan magistrate ordered her to pay her boyfriend Ksh 23,750 (Kenya Shillings) which was given to her by her boyfriend.

Rather than visit him, the girl kept the money and switched off her phone. The boyfriend gave her Ksh 3000 bus fare.

So the court said she should pay Ksh 3000, Ksh 750 interest and Ksh 20 000 for emotional damages because the boyfriend was emotionally abused by absence of the girlfriend.

The boyfriend, Beyumunike brought evidence to the court of the mobile money transfer and WhatsApp messages they shared

Men seeking legal redress seem to come to the fore when a controversial Nigeria police PRO, Dolapo Badmus took to her social media handles to urge men not to condone ladies defrauding them in such manners again.

She said that ladies can be jailed for at least five years in that regard.

“This has been the norm for ladies, especially Nigeria ladies. They like to ask their men or boyfriend to pay money for their T-fare and finally, they won’t show up to the guys house. They think they are smart.

“Dear men, if a lady tells you to send her money for transport to come over and you send her the cash and she decides not to visit you, and does not refund the money.. You can refer to act 29 SECTION 132 of the criminal code and file a case of defrauding by false pretense against her.

“She can be jailed for up to 5 years. Know your right my brother”

A young man, Yemi Badmus while reacting to the issue said “Can a lady be accused of defrauding someone that is trying to procure an illegal service?

“He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. I believe it would be against public policy to support a claim for fraud when you were trying to engage in solicitation.Unless the money was sent in furtherance of a legitimate endeavour, I don’t think anyone would be able to complain to the law for help.

“Even if it was not illegal, it will be too embarrassing and very costly. You’ll pay to open file, pay for fuel to go and arrest the lady, pay for investigation, pay for her bail, pay to close file, still settle DPO. At the end of the day, you will realize it was not worth it”.

Speaking on the issue, a legal practitioner, Abayomi Lawal quoted section 418/419 of the criminal code, saying it is provided in there that obtaining money or property of another person by false pretences or fake promises is a crime punishable with at least seven years imprisonment term.

“On this note, the guy can file a petition against the lady for obtaining from him under false pretense and fake promise that she will come and see him. But in another section of the criminal code, specifically, S.223(2), it is a criminal offense for a man to pay or send money to a woman  for sex. It is called procurement.

“This section provides thus; S.223(2) Any person who procures a woman or girl to become a common prostitute either in Nigeria or elsewhere is guilty of a misdemeanor and is liable to imprisonment for two years.” He further explained.

He, however, noted that the lady can argue in her defense that the man sent her money to visit him for sex thereby committing the crime of procurement. Maybe the man can as well argue that he was just inviting the lady out on a date and not for sex hence have not committed the crime of procurement by booking a flight for the lady.

Both of them have a case and whoever presents a more solid argument will win the case.

A student, Ibedu Sylvester, who said he was happy that greedy ladies who dupe guys of their money are getting punished for their crimes, advised “if you know you are not going to give in to him, then don’t collect his money. Many ladies are greedy that is why they are getting into trouble. The greed of the present youth even surpasses that of the older generation”.

An elderly clergy who does not want his name in the print advised ladies to stop visiting strange men going by the number of ritual killings that are witnessed by Nigerians daily.

He urged them to be hardworking and stop looking up to men for cash handouts.