5th April, 2019
By Isa Isawade
On Tuesday 5 March 2019, I was in my office around 11.30am when a younger sister of mine rang to inform me of a juicy job her position as a member of the Executive Committee of a very popular Asalatu prayer organisation in Lagos (name withheld) has earned her.
According to her, she was called by a man who identified himself as Alhaji Bello with mobile number 0809 063 1966 and who claimed to be a senior member of the organisation’s executive committee at the national level.
The man informed her that her contribution to the prayer group had been noticed at the national level and that a slot of the contract opportunities Lagos State Government had opened up has been reserved for her.
The man also described himself as a director in the Lagos State civil service (ministry unspecified). He explained to her that it was an office maintenance contract job where she would supply materials the new office needed and oversee its usage and the administrative needs of the office.
My sister explained to him that the job did no fall within the purview of her profession but, the man suggested she could submit name of someone she knew with competence in the regards.
She called one or two of her senior colleagues within the association to confirm the personality of Alhaji Bello. It was confirmed that the name was a high ranking member of the Asalatu society. No one suspected any impersonation attempt.
My name readily came to her mind, knowing that I am also a business management consultant. She submitted my name to them and asked me to call ‘ Alhaji Bello’.
When I called the ‘Alhaji’, he gave me the mobile line of ‘Mr. Femi Dosumu’, another member of the syndicate who, he claimed, was the contact person of the “Ministry in Alausa”.
When I called ‘Dosumu’ on his mobile line: 0818 233 9487, he could not wait for me to finish introducing myself before he interjected by telling me how urgently I was needed for the juicy contract.
He said he was the one in charge of recruitment for the contract and that his boss was a director in the ‘Ministry’ and was in charge of the contract. He gave his name as Dr. Olayemi Fasasi Martins.
He told me that it was contract for supply of materials needed for a new block of offices built by government in Alausa, and that the first leg of the contract was to supply 50 gallons of a chemical solution called ‘Durald 150’.
He promised to recommend me to his boss as the best man for the job, and that I should be prepared as Dr. Martins would summon me to his office by 8.00am the following day. He said he would text details of the contract to me immediately.
Two minutes after dropping the call, a text message came in from ‘Mr. Dosumu’. The message, written in capital letters, is reproduced below:
“THE NAME OF THE MAN IN CHARGE OF THE JOB IS DR. OLAYEMI FASASI MARTINS. THE NAME OF THE PRODUCT FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE OFFICE IS DURAD 150. QUANTITY NEEDED IS 50 GALLONS. THE COST PRICE FROM THE MARKET IS N95,000.00 EACH AND YOU WILL SUPPLY AT THE RATE OF N130,000.00 EACH. THE COMPANY THAT SOLD (SIC) THE PRODUCT IS DOVE NIG. LTD. CONTACT NO, 0909 383 5600. ASK FOR PAST. AYODELE AGBOOLA. CALL HIM FOR ENQY AND CALL ME BACK NAW (SIC).
I immediately went online to consult google about the product and Dove Nig. Ltd. I found that Durad 150 actually exists for the stated purpose, but the company, Dove Nig. Ltd. Is not a chemical manufacturing company. The company, located at Ebute Metta, according to its website, is into sales and distribution of motorcycles and tyres.
Nevertheless, I dialed ‘Pastor Agboola’s number to ask for the price of Durad 150. Ninety-five thousand naira! He said, without wasting time. “Can I get up to 50 gallons?” I asked. He quickly answered that I could, even if I needed more.
I asked him of the address of his company to which he replied “we are located at Ikorodu”. I asked him to forward the address to me. He promised to do so but never did, even after three reminders.
Meanwhile, I picked up calculator immediately to ascertain my profit on the first supply. The calculating machine gave me a mouth-watering figure of N1,750,000.00. Wao! Just in one day. I told myself, “ this is my year of financial breakthrough”. I started to calculate in my head what I wanted to organise around me with the jackpot. I was very elated and waited with bated breath for the ‘Director’, ‘Dr. Martins’ call.
I rang my sister to thank her immensely for bringing instant wealth to my doorstep. I tasked her to pray along with me towards complete success of the contract. She pledged loyalty in the regard.
When ‘Dr. martins’ call came in the following day, Wednesday 6 March 2019 at about 7.30am through a mobile line: 0813 459 6463, I heaved a big sigh of relief.
He reeled out the contract terms to me without asking for my CV. He started, “You have been recommended to me for the job opportunity in my Ministry. It is a contract employment for supervision and maintenance of the office for three months. You will only come to office 3 times a week on days of your choice. You will also execute contracts for office supplies and maintenance. You will be entitled to salary and weekly supervision allowance. If your performance proves satisfactory after the expiration of the three months, your contract would be renewed for another six months, after which it will be renewed for another fifteen months. The first leg of the contract is cleaning of marbled floor of our newly built office with German-made Durad 150 chemical. You will supply fifty gallons of the chemical for a start.”
He then asked me, “How much will you supply a gallon?” Excitement led my tongue to a slip. Instead of giving my price, I gave ‘Pastor Agboola’s price’. “Ninety-five thousand naira sir”, I goofed! Dr. Martins asked, “Are you sure”? I realised immediately and quickly corrected myself, “I am sorry, I meant to say one hundred and thirty thousand naira sir”.
He continued, “Ok, you will supply 50 gallons. Send to me your full name and account you want us to pay the money into, because we are going to prepare the voucher right away. You will come to my office by 12 noon to sign the voucher, after which the money will be transferred to your account. But when you are coming, bring along a gallon as sample for us to be sure you will supply the quality we desire- the German made”, he concluded.
After the conversation, I forwarded my name and bank account number to the ‘Director’ immediately. He acknowledged receipt of my mail.
I later called Mr. Dosumu to inform him of the ‘fruitful’ telephone conversation I just had with the ‘Director’ and thanked him for recommending me for such big contract without even knowing me.
He counselled that the next thing was for me to quickly go to the company to get one gallon of the chemical and bring it down to their office at Alausa before the 12 noon appointment with the ‘Director’, asking me to call him immediately I got to the Secretariat’s gate, so that he would come to take me to the “director’s office”. He warned that time was of essence.
I was determined to be careful by not spending a dime of my money to get the contract. Anyone to be ‘seen’ would have to wait till after successful execution of the contract. So, I told Mr. Dosumu that I had no money to buy the sample. He asked me to call the ‘pastor’ again and tell him I was from the former contractor whose name he said was Alhaji Badmus. He said, by so doing, the pastor would give me the sample on credit.
When I called ‘Pastor Agboola’, he explained that I needed to pay, at least, half of the price before the company could release the item to me.
It was at this juncture that it was becoming clear to me that the whole thing was a scam. Dosumu kept calling at intervals, pestering me to get money to buy the sample. I also decided to play along.
When the 12 noon deadline passed unmet, Dosumu extended the deadline to 3pm, urging me to try everything possible to get the money.
I then tried to play a fast game on them. I told Dosumu that since we were both going to benefit handsomely from the contract, he should lend us the money to procure the sample. I asked him pay the sum into my account for us to secure the contract and that whatever he lent would be refunded from the profit before sharing the remainder.
I was silently praying that he fell for my trick. That would have earned me a record of beating the tricksters to their game. But, he was too smart to be tricked. He quickly dodged my missile by saying it was not convenient for him to do so at the time. He rather chose to extend the deadline again to 5.00pm!
When he did not hear, neither did he receive from me at the expiration of the 5.00pm final deadline, he must have realised, along with his co-travellers that I had known who they were- 419ers! None of them bothered to call back. I waited till Thursday afternoon before placing a call to ‘Dosumu’. Very unusual of him since inception of our relations, he hesitated before picking the call.
When he did, I asked him the reason he had stopped calling, because I was enjoying his regular calls. There was silence at the other end. Days after, I called some of the lines stated above. The calls went through but nobody dared to pick. The conmen have wisely voted with their feet.
But, they could be tracked down and nabbed if the agencies in charge of ridding our society of undesirable elements like these live up to the task. Those bastards are not far from the surroundings of the state house, and the mobile numbers they used, as listed above, are still going through and, I suppose, are registered by the concerned GSM service providers. Over to the security agents!