LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP

This is an experience of a very good friend of mine; I wanted to share his experience with all of y’all.
Being a successful entrepreneur has always been my life long dream and in my earlier days, I have exhibited prospective signs, given advices to many and these inputs have been instrumental to either solving their predicaments at that given time or boosted their ventures. These and many other occurrences were the things that helped to build my self-confidence in the business circle.

I was nursing this ambition inside of me until last year when an opportunity came my way, dangling like a carrot - very attractive and viable. A friend introduced me to her uncle who was into the Estate development business, who was assisting family and friends to acquire landed properties at give-away prices. I couldn’t resist this temptation because I have always dreamt of owning my own house. I told her that I would love to meet this uncle and in a few days, we visited his office at Maitama, a highbrow area of Abuja. This office building was an entire duplex, very beautiful, very modern and intimidating. We got into the building to behold the beauty and splendor which was truly heavenly. I have never seen an office so tastefully furnished, it looked like the reception of a five-star hotel in town, it was a sight to behold indeed. We were ushered by a lovely lady who told us to go upstairs which we did and there he was very handsome, well dressed - formally, a nice suit, a lovely sky-blue shirt and a blue silk tie to go with it. I was already impressed before he even uttered a word. He greeted us warmly and we sat down and started discussing, he spoke with a British accent and sounded very confident.

He told us of a scheme which he had introduced to the Government t help more people acquire their own houses by paying installmentally. All you have to do was just to pay 50% and the rest will be spread across 5 years. This idea sounded like a nice one. He said that he would arrange a mortgage loan for the first fifty interested clients and I said I was interested. I was told that it was on a first come, first served based basis, so I had to get money fast.

I emptied my bank account but it wasn’t sufficient, so I borrowed from some friends and even asked my mum to add for the money to be complete. My mum was a little uneasy with the entire venture, she told me that it was too good to be true, but I was just too excited to listen. Her parting words were “Son, Look, look and look before you leap other wise….” I can’t forget the look she gave me, a look of pity. Well, I was taken to a plot of land of about 20 hectares of land where the estate would be built, I was shown the model and building plans of the estate, I was shown every single document that suggested that the venture was legal, so I went on to pay the money, Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N 500,000) about $US 4,273. I was given some FCDA forms to fill which I did and that was it.
I even introduced the idea to some friends, which was a well accepted one and almost all my friends were interested, so they also invested. The advert was always on TV and Newspapers, so there was no reason to doubt the efficacy of the scheme.

A few months later, a friend called me to inform me that the construction of the estate had started, and that I should find out if there were still slots for more people because the colleagues at the office were really interested.
So, I decided to call this man, his mobile phone was switched off, I call the office phone, but it wasn’t going. So I decided to go there myself since it was far away from my office. I got to the building only to fine out that the place wasn’t there – I mean the building was different, renovated, refurbished – only God knows because the building I was used to seeing was not the one before me. I got in and found out that the building was sold two weeks earlier. I call the friend, who introduced me to the man, and she told me that her so called uncle had left the country; I was shaking all over, what? I screamed. She told me to come over to her house, I rushed there immediately and I could not believe my ears.

She revealed how her uncle was repatriated from the UK after going to prison for internet fraud, how he used the contract given to another genuine company to deceive innocent people including his relations. She said that the estate was being constructed, but not by his so called company, he only used their name and identity. She concluded that the man flew to Canada a few weeks earlier to start a new life. She told me that she just made these discoveries an hour earlier, before my call. I was sweating profusely, shaking all over – it was like the day of Pentecost.

We went to the company that truly advertised the scheme only to find out that there was nobody like that in their staff list and that they never had an office at maitama, neither did they collect a dime from anyone, they only collect money after the estate have been completed and that they have a mortgage firm that deals with that aspect. It became clear that I had just been duped, not just me alone, but my friends and their friends… the list was endless.

We reported to the Police only to find out that there like fifty complaints about the same guy, when I heard that, I past out in the police station. I woke up to find myself in a hospital. How could I explain the scenario that I found myself or that I had put myself into? It took me years to save that money, what would I tell my friends? How can start all over? How about all the money I borrowed from people? I couldn’t look at my mother on the face because she warned me earlier, I was a total disgrace and in a huge mess. It was discovered that the man eloped with almost N 120 million Naira (about $US 1 Million Dollars).

It’s been a year and a few months and there has been no sign of the man or our money. The Police is still investigating; I must confess that I have not fully recovered from that leap I took so I don’t see myself taking any leaps in a very long time to come but like popular saying – “when there is life, there is hope”. The accommodation issue in Abuja has created an avenue for fraudsters to defraud people under the pretense of arranging mortgage loans and other financial facilities. It is a pitiable situation and I truly hope that something could be done to remedy the problem. An advice I give anyone I come across, especially to young entrepreneurs is “Look, look, look before you leap, just like my mama said”