Woman traumatised after losing ₦6.2m to Lagos scammers

A 63-year-old woman, whose name was yet-to-be disclosed, has been left traumatised after losing ₦6.2 million to fraudsters in Lagos State.

According to the victim’s daughter, Anu Joseph, who spoke on the matter, her mother who’s now traumatised is also battling high blood pressure due to the incident.

Revealing how her mum was scammed, Joseph said when she transferred an undisclosed amount of money to her mum on June 7, 2023, to address an urgent matter, the victim visited a bank, and fell into the hands of the scammers while returning from the financial institution.

“It happened on June 7, 2023. I transferred some money to my mum for something very important and I asked her to go to a branch of a bank on Victoria Island. She went but could not complete the transaction because of one missing document.

“She came out of the bank to leave and was asking how she would get to Ojuelegba from there. Coincidentally, a car parked in front of her and the driver asked her where she was headed and she told him. He asked her to enter.

“According to my mum, they started discussing pounds, someone having a consignment and all that, and they convinced her to withdraw ₦3m and give it to them,” Joseph was quoted as saying.

She claimed that her mother, in the company of the driver, withdrew ₦3 million, and went with the driver to meet some people who provided bank details that the money was paid.

"My mum could not tell anyone until her BP went high and she became ill. She is no longer in her right frame of mind since she realised it was a scam. She didn’t want to accept that she had been defrauded," Joseph said.

Speaking further, she added that the fraudsters continued to call her mum on the telephone and she kept sending money to them until she had no more money to give.