They always move around in the various streets of Abuja, fishing for a prey to get in their nets. They have caught many and are hoping to get more. Many residents who have been in their claws have been permanently scarred as they were raped or their money collected from them. Many have also lost their lives. They are fraudsters popularly known as ‘One Chance’ or 419ners.
The 419ners, mostly come up with the same story all the time to trick their unsuspected victims. But even as they come up with same stories, many more fall into their trap.
“I don’t know about anyone but the reason I will say I fail into their trap was that at that very time they struck, I was vulnerable. I was actually looking for money to pay my house rent and my office was owning me for months so I was in a dilemma and wasn’t thinking right,” Paul Izu, a reporter in a media house stated.
While speaking of the usual story the 419ners sell to their prey, Izu explained that he had joined a cab at Begger Junction, heading towards Bwari in Bwari area council, not knowing that he had entered into a lion’s den.
“I was tired. Thinking of my worries. I can’t even remember where we were when the driver started arguing with one of the guys in the car over the content of the bag in the boot of the car. I was not listening. It wasn’t my problem. But when we had to park and one place for them to finish up their argument that was when I asked to know what the problem was.
“Then the story of how the passenger the driver was arguing with was carrying a bag full with dollars. The driver has threatened to take the passenger to the police and the passenger was pleading with him not to. The passenger said that he had stolen the bag of dollars from his master who was maltreating him adding that he had decided to run away with the money.
Izu recounted that the passenger who was now shedding crocodile tears pleaded with the driver not to take him to the police, promising to share the money with him and other passengers.
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“We were six in the vehicle and we all headed to a place to share the dollars but when we got to that place, another story came up. The passenger stated that there was need for the money to be prayed on because he knew that his master got the money from bad means,” he said.
He stated they finally got to a place where they said a pastor who will pray over the money was living and the said pastor came out announcing that he needed money to do the necessary things.
Izu stated that he had to give them N5,000, money he had borrowed from one of his editors with the promise of paying back when he gets his salaries.
“I came home and was asking everyone for money. One of the person that I was asking for money asked me what I wanted the money for. At first I wanted to lie but on a second thought, i told him what had happened. He shouted that I have entered 419 vehicle. That was how I came back to my senses,” he said.
While many who had fallen in the trap of the fraudsters were hoping to get money, another FCT resident, Cynthia Onugo stated that in her case, she had wanted to see the end to the 419 sordid story.
Her story was pretty much the same with Izu but in her own case, she had no money on her to give to them however, her number was collected by the driver who was the one collecting the money which would be used for rituals to purify the stolen money.
“I didn’t know the level of problem I was until my fiancé explained it to me. I was new in Abuja. I didn’t know the gravity of what I was into. My fiancé told me that apart from my money being extorted, I would have been raped or killed.
“What he said was confirmed when the 419ners kept calling me to bring the money. When my fiancé picked the call and asked them to stop calling that we know they are fraudsters, the person told him that he should be happy that they didn’t rape me,” she said.
Most victims of the fraudsters have been raped or killed. The National President of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria has always blamed the act on owners of unpainted vehicles, however some victims had met the fraudsters in FCT painted vehicles. The only advice the Nigerian police have for the residents is to at alert, and be careful.
