By Tola Gbadamosi

xPoint of Sales (PoS) vendors in Oba-Ile, Akure North Local Government area of Ondo State and its environs have raised alarm over what they described as mysterious disappearance and dispossession of their hard earned money by diabolical customers.

Many of the PoS vendors who spoke with The Hope lamented how they have been swindled of their money by diabolical fraudsters.

Some of the victims said after collecting cash from some customers who came for transfer, the money would mysteriously disappear after few minutes.

They claimed the money disappeared after they added the money collected to those already in their bags the entire money disappeared

Surprisingly, it is aftersuch diabolical customers left their shops that they discovered that their money was missing and, it was difficult to trace them.

They noted that the issue is becoming very rampant, whereby diabolical customers now employ charm “juju”, to steal their money.

According to The Hope investigation, such customers operate in areas where they are unknown, to swindle  unsuspecting victims.

A PoS operator Oluwatoyin Akinrogunde, while narrating her experience, said on October 4, 2023 precisely, a man came with a bike, that he wanted to transfer N40, 000 to someone. I counted the money he gave me and rejected one of the notes  in a bad shape. He gave me two different account numbers that were fake because the machine could not process it. He eventually gave me another account number belonging to one Jude where I sent the remaining N39, 000 to.

“The transaction was successful and he gave me the cash which I put on my table. Moments after he left, I realized that the money had developed wings, I counted it again, it remained N15, 000 left. I shouted, but I thanked God that I have not added it to the money inside my bag, ” she said.

Narrating his ordeal, another victim who owns a PoS outlet in Oba-Ile, Mr Irinyemi Adeleke, popularly known as ‘Stone Cold’ said he lost N200,000 in a day last week

He said: I had an apprentice, a lady who worked for me. This fateful day, I went to the bank and withdrew N150, 000 and added it to the little cash of about N50, 000.

That moment, an engineer who wanted to work in my apartment called and I left warning her not to lose guard.

Not more than 30 minutes after leaving the shop,  I got a call from the lady, with a shivering voice, saying; e maa bo o, e maa bo o, meaning (please, start coming, start coming ). I asked what happened, but she couldn’t talk, but continued shouting that I should come.

I immediately ran to meet her and the first thing I checked was the money I left in the bag with her, nothing was inside the bag again. I was like, Jesus, what happened?

She couldn’t explain what transpired for close to an hour, I was even the one calming her down. It was obvious, that something was used on her, she was shivering and was trying to mutter  some words, but couldn’t.

When she finally regained her consciousness, she then narrated how it happened.

According to her, a man came demanding  transfer, and replied, that her boss wasn’t around and that she could not do it. She narrated further, that the man stepped out, but returned and told the lady that he is a Prophet and that he saw a vision about her.

He said someone had spent an evil money and that there is a need for her to do a kind of cleansing, else, the evil money will affect the lady’s future and would run down the shop.

The fearful lady asked him what she needs to do, then he asked her to get a sachet of water and some sand. He collected both from the lady, made some incantations and told her to pour the sand into the bag containing the money and drink the water after he must have left.

Surprisingly, he did not collect the bag from her, neither did he make any transaction. He told her to open the bag after 30 minutes and pour the sand away. After five minutes that the man had left, the lady asked herself that why would she pack sand inside the bag used for transactions, she decided to pour the sand away, but when she opened the bag, she could only see the sand while the entire money has disappeared.

Mr Adeleke also narrated a similar case of a woman within the Oba-Ile estate who owns a PoS outlet  who had been a victim.

“Very early in the morning, a young man approached her, transfered one thousand naira and gave the woman one hundred naira as charges which she collected and kept inside her bag.

Few minutes later, the woman checked and everything she had inside the bag had vanished.”

He also said “another similar incident happened at the NTA junction. I have a friend who was working for a woman as a PoS agent, same thing happened to him and he ran to me, crying, lamenting, that he didn’t know how it happened. He said the young man came that he wanted to withdraw and was telling him  stories and that few minutes after he had left, all his money vanished.

Another similar incident happened to my friend’s girlfriend at Oba-Ile motor park. We call him Alfa, this guy was swindled  to the tune of N400,000.

“In her case, the man walked up to her and told her to transfer certain amount into his account. She did and the man said he wanted to get the cash from his vehicle. He entered and zoomed off and the lady came to her senses after he had gone.

He said what baffled him more was that these hoodlums were never in a hurry and it’s difficult to suspect them whenever they come to perpetrate their evil under the guise of carrying out transactions.

“Surprisingly, it is when they had fled the scene, that their victims would come to her senses and by then, one can not trace them.

“Cases of using “juju”, to collect people’s money are real and happen everywhere.

“They normally go to areas where no one knows them to swindle  unsuspecting victims.

“My advice to my colleagues in this business, is that they should be very vigilant and more prayerful.

Another POS vendor, Mr Taoheed Olusola, said though, he is yet to fall victim, but that some of his colleagues that had been swindled explained some of their tricks to him and that most of them usually come riding a Lady’s machine.

Another operator who identified himself as Alfa Abdukabir at the Oba-Ile motor park, lamented that the hoodlums fraudulently collected N570,000 from a lady he employed.

He said the man walked in, asked after him  and lied to her that he had called me that he wanted to collect N400, 000, and that he was owing me the sum of N22, 000 adding that he would pay N8, 000 for charges, totalling N30, 000.

He told her to deduct the N30,000 from the N400, 000 and pay her the balance of N370, 000 which she gladly did.

According to him, the lady was carried away with the N8000 charges, but failed to call him and verify the truth. She was already under control of the man’s charm.

The man who came with RAV4 Jeep, drove away before she came back to her senses and that was when she called me.

Apart from this, I have fallen victim of another N400, 000 carted away by a fraudster and I also have a friend who was swindled of his one million and twenty-four thousand naira POS money this year.”

He appealed to security agencies which include; the police, Amotekun Corps and NSCDC officials to help retrieve their money from the hoodlums whenever they are caught and not to release them on bail.

“Most of us are graduates who ventured into this business for lack of employment opportunities. Some of us even borrowed money to start the business, but unfortunately, these men of the underworld are adding to our pains,” he lamented.

He advised others who are into the business to trust no one and avoid allowing customers access into their shops because most of them are always with cash.