63-year-old woman hospitalized after losing N6.2m to fraudsters

In Lagos, a 63-year-old woman (name withheld) who lost N6.2 million to scammers has been unwell.

The victim’s daughter, Anu Joseph, told PUNCH Metro that her traumatised mother was currently battling High Blood Pressure as a result of the incident.

Joseph said trouble started when she transferred an undisclosed amount of money to her mum on June 7, 2023, to address an urgent matter.

She said when her mother visited the bank, she could not complete the transaction because she needed a particular document that was not with her on that day.

According to her, while returning from the bank, her mum fell into the hands of fraudsters.

She said, “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 N3m and give it to them.”

She claimed that her mother, in the company of the driver, withdrew N3m, 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 has been defrauded,” Joseph said.

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.

As if that was not enough, these people kept contacting her and she kept sending them money to the tune of N6.2m,” she added.

Joseph wondered why it was difficult for the policemen at the Force Criminal Investigation Department Annex, Alagbon, where the case was reported, to trace the fraudsters despite that their bank