Loopholes arising from displaying unverified vacant apartments on online property marts have been helping fraudsters scam and rob unsuspecting house hunters. Over 75 renters who picked interest in a yet-to-be-completed one-storey-building on 11 Abeni Close, Asha Estate, Gbagada, Lagos were defrauded of a total payment of over N20 million in June.
The property was listed mostly on various property websites which are considered to be non-classified marketplaces because of the loose framework of operation and lack of accountability to users in the event of a bad transaction.
Through agents who subscribe to these platforms including Jiji, Nigeria Property Centre for widespread promotion, renters including those outside Lagos got in contact with a certain landlord named Mr. Bobby and Olaleye Aderonke, his supposed sister. The duo interfaced with renters and pressured them into paying upfront or risked losing out to the rush. In less than a month of flooding the Stanbic IBTC bank account of Olaleye with payments, she disappeared without a trace, her account balance empty.
Upon arrest by officers of the Ifako-Ijaiye Police Station in Gbagada, Bobby the property owner disclaimed having any family tie with Olaleye, saying she is a trusted developer whom he has worked with for a long time. The police charged Bobby to court, with the case adjourned till the 23rd of this month for further hearing.
According to the police, they lack the resources to track Olaleye who is at large with renters’ money. Yet they are unwilling to hand the matter over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as requested by the victims.
Already, some angry renters have forced their way into the uncompleted building despite resistance from local security personnel. The building consists of two mini-flats, two two-bedroom flats and a bed-room flat popularly termed self-contain.
Among the victims are Priscilla, an immigration officer, Tosin Lamina, a photographer and Fisayo Ajayi, a music studio worker.
“I feel terrible. I’ve only been in Lagos for like a year and a half. I’m still in shock. We have all been duped. I don’t know how smart we are but she actually messed us up. My agent took me there and I thought this woman is nice,” Fisayo Ajayi said.
Ajayi, who was looking to rent a bedroom flat, works as an assistant to Uche Obi at Chocolate City Music studio in Gbagada. Obi, being familiar with Gbagada, took interest in following up on the house and realised it belongs to Bobby, his family friend.
“We’ve been to the place to be sure that work is going on well. The next thing that happened was that we got a call from the agent that took us there who happens to be my barber. He said the house is involved in a case of fraud and they have incarcerated the Uncle Bob,” Obi explained.
“The house was initially handled by someone else introduced to us as his sister, who we now are discovering that she is a developer. We’ve paid in full for one year. We paid N300,000 in addition to an agency fee of N50,000. We paid to the developer who we thought was his sister. We started with a N200,000 down payment on the 22nd of June. The landlord now says the lady is a developer whom he met through a third party.”
Tosin Lamina was set for work with his camera at a wedding when information reached him that the N640, 000 he paid for a two-bedroom flat might have fizzled into air with no apartment to show for it. He blamed himself being too trusting and ignoring the red flags.
“I spoke to him last week and he told me I was going to move in by the end of this month. There were a lot of red flags which I think I see now. I think I trusted him too much and it didn’t make sense for me not to trust him again at that point. I don’t know what to do. I was supposed to have moved out since June but I’ve been pleading with my landlord to give me more time. I don’t know what to do,” Lamina said.
For Priscilla, it is neither her first or second experience of renting an apartment in Lagos but it is definitely, the first mistake that has cost N425,000. She is particularly pained by the fact that the agents who introduced victims did little research on the building.
“How can you register a property and not know the owner? I found this property on Nigerian Property online and the numbers of the agents are switched. Now, the house is guarded by security personnel. They don’t properly check the houses they take their clients to.
While the victims await the arrival of 23rd of August, they hope the police will rise to assist them in tracking Olaleye and that closer monitoring is done on their activities online.
