Jackson Musendiku (not real name), an Abuja resident, has narrated how a group of individuals who introduced themselves to him as investment experts stole N550,000 from him.
While speaking with FIJ on Friday, Musendiku said the fraudsters first reached out to him in May.
“In early May, someone reached out to me saying he worked with a financial investment outfit and that any amount I invested with them would be doubled over a very short period of time,” Musendiku said.
“In all honesty, the caller really did not specify the kind of investment the outfit was into. He also did not tell me the name of the investment outfit. He only told me that they were a global e-commerce platform.
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“The person told me that whatever I invested would be doubled once it reached the maturity stage, and that got me interested in the venture.”
Musendiku told FIJ that he subsequently decided to first send N70,000 to the investment representative “in a bid to find out whether the firm and business he was advertising was genuine or not”.
“When I sent N70,000 to them, they sent N84,000 to me after two days,” said Musendiku.
“This made me believe he indeed worked for an investment company.”
THE N550,000 TRANSFER
After a few days, the self-proclaimed investment firm representative reached out to Musendiku again and encouraged him to inject more funds into the venture so he could get bountiful returns.
“On May 17, I sent N150,000 to the company. After I made the payment, the representative told me I had been upgraded to being a member of a VIP group, and that the rewards that such members enjoyed from the investment firm were limitless,” he narrated.
“The representative now added that I would have to send him an additional N400,000 so that I can collect a total sum of N770,000 in return.
“I was a bit hesitant, but the representative told me not to worry.”
On May 18, Musendiku sent an additional N400,000 to the investment representative.
He had paid N550,000 to the strange investment representative.
“After a while, the representative reached out to me, saying I won’t be able to get any reward on time because their systems were down,” said Musendiku.
“He then added that while I wait, it is best I send an additional N400,000 to them so that I can get a premium reward of close to N2 million.
“It was at this point that I realised I had been dealing with money doublers, fraudsters.”
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REFUND REQUEST DECLINED
Musendiku also told FIJ that when he asked the fraudster to return his N550,000, he was told his refund request “would not be treated”.
“When I told the fraudster to send my N550,000 back to me, he told me that their systems were still down and that my refund request would not be treated,” said Musendiku.
“I immediately knew he said that just to further deceive me and I directed many unprintable words at him.
“After that, I called and texted and called the representative, but he never responded to me again.”
When FIJ asked Musendiku why he did not report the matter to the police, he said he felt he would incur additional costs.
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“I only reported the matter to my bank, and I was told to get two court orders, so that restrictions can be placed on the accounts that fraudulently received the N550,000 I transferred,” said Musendiku.
“In all honesty, I had already been rendered penniless by the fraudsters, so I didn’t even have any money left to carry that out.
“To date, I am still penniless because the N550,000 was all I had as my savings. The fraudsters went with it all.”
SPINNER
Checks carried out by FIJ showed that Mosendiku made the initial N150,000 payment into a Kuda Microfinance Bank account 2072764581 belonging to one SALISU NAFIU.
The N400,000 he later sent was to another Kuda Microfinance Bank account 2078175905 belonging to a SADIAT MUSILIYU.
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When FIJ dialled 09010469408, the number the fraudster had used to communicate with Musendiku, on Truecaller, it was switched off. The caller identification app linked the name SPINNER to the phone number.
The post How Abuja Resident Lost N550,000 to SPINNER the Money Doubler appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.