Abuja: Phone dealer cries out over N2.8m fake alert
An Abuja store owner, Mustapha Suleman, has cried out after a yet-to-be-identified man allegedly fled with phones worth N2.8m after a fake transfer was reportedly initiated.
Mustapha, who is the Chief Executive of M2 Stores located at 4th Avenue, Gwarinpa, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, told our correspondent in a phone conversation on Friday that the man chatted with him through Instagram.
He said he asked him to deliver the phones, iPhone 14 Pro Max, 256G, iPhone 13 Pro Max, and a Samsung Fold phone.
The store owner said he insisted that he would not deliver before payment and that the man, who claimed he was going to surprise his wife with the new phones as birthday gifts, agreed to meet up with him at his house located at CBN Quarters in Garki, Abuja.
According to him, he had been in discussion with the man for about four days, but on Friday, he was unable to reach him again after delivering the phones.
He said, “I used to do sponsored posts on Instagram, this guy saw my sponsored post and said he wanted to get phones for his wife and he said I should deliver them.
“I told him I don’t do delivery before payment. He said he couldn’t transfer to me because we met online. He had his point, I didn’t know him, and he didn’t know me. “He said I should come to his house. I didn’t go alone, I went with somebody. He asked for the phones, I said these are the phones.
“He opened his bank app, I put in my account number, and the name M2 Stores showed.”
Mustapha said the man did the transfer and it showed that it was successful, saying he checked the receipt of the transaction, and the date and the time corresponded.
“He showed me a screenshot of his debit alert, but the money never entered,” he told PUNCH Metro.
The screenshot of the receipt sighted by our correspondent, dated June 2, with 12.17pm time stamp, showed the amount of N2,810,000 transferred to M2 Stores. Mustapha said the additional N10,000 was supposed to be for transportation.
He said the man acted like a ‘big man’ who owned the apartment.
“I never knew he never stayed in that apartment,” he added.
Mustapha said the man had allegedly blocked him on WhatsApp and his line was not going through again.
A Twitter user, @KennyKruize, who earlier narrated the matter, added, “Then the man came down, met us in the car and asked if we have not yet seen the alert and we told him no, then he said he was in a hurry that he had a business meeting as soon as possible that we would see the alert, then he drove out. Immediately he drove out, he called my brother and said ‘Sorry M2 Stores, they just reversed the money, that we should resend the account number. Immediately after the call, his number stopped connecting.”
A six seconds video shared by Mustapha which he said he managed to record, showed the man in a black flowing dress, wearing a face cap and sunglasses. He was holding a packaging bag branded with M2 Stores, suspected to contain the phones.
“He didn’t know I recorded his video that much,” he told our correspondent.
Mustapha said he had reported the matter at the Gwarinpa Police Station in Abuja.
The FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, when contacted on the phone, said she believed the matter was being attended to.
“He has done the right thing by reporting at the police station,” the PPRO added. Punch
