URGENT: THE NEXT VICTIM COULD BE SAVED BY YOUR ACTIONS!!

When I received this email it sent chills down my spine, and it is because I had imagined a scenario like this before. 

We should ty to beware of the risks we take especially when looking for apartments, buying land or cars. Avoid following strange agents to unknown places to check out apartments or cars for sale. Ensure you transact business through a known and registered office, it’s safer.

FACTS.

On the night of Friday, the 7th of March 2014, our friend and colleague disappeared.

He was with a friend in his rented apartment in Port Harcourt on that night when he received a call. After answering the call at about 8pm, he told his guest he had to dash out to meet some colleague and that he would be back shortly. That was the last time anyone saw him alive, he met with the persons but never returned.

He had planned to travel to home to his family in Warri on Saturday but sadly, their expectation to see him alive and well was cut short. He never came home. By Monday his family was fully panicked. They checked and confirmed that there were no accidents on the PHC-WAR road and that his name was not on any manifest of the more popular transport companies.

Further enquiries revealed that there had been several withdrawals from his account via his ATM card along the Eleme/Onne axis of Port Harcourt. It was then assumed that he had been kidnapped, though there was never any call or demand for ransom.

THIRD PARTY INFORMATION

Fast forward three weeks to Friday 28th of March, when a guy flew in to Port Harcourt from Lagos. Apparently, he came to close a business deal.

On arrival, he checked into a hotel and got in contact with a driver/mechanic whom he was familiar with and arranged for the guy to take him somewhere for a business meeting with some persons. Upon arriving at the location, they were attacked, but luckily the mechanic/driver escaped. He returned to the location a while later with police men and met the corpse of his client (the man from Lagos). Per protocol, the police searched the area and discovered the now de-composing corpse of our colleague.

OUR THOUGHTS

It appears there is a syndicate or gang of criminals who are using a ‘honey trap’ to lure unsuspecting people to an untimely and gruesome death. We believe based on the little facts we have that they are parading an item for sale for an unbelievable bargain price. WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS OR HOW THE INITIAL CONTACT IS MADE (MOST LIKELY ONLINE), it could be anything from a high end vehicle or heavy duty equipment to real estate property, though it’s more likely to be a car/vehicle because it is unlikely our colleague would go out at night to inspect a piece of land and the fact that their last victim contacted a mechanic/driver indicates that he was likely looking for his input/opinion on the state of item he wanted to buy. AGAIN, WE DON’T KNOW THE DETAILS OF THE ‘DEAL’ BECAUSE NONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO STARTED THE DEAL SURVIVED TO TELL THE TALE.

Whatever it is, we believe that they are offering it at a substantial below market price, hence the interest from would be victims.

After price negotiations (presumably on phone), they would arrange to meet up with their customer for inspection only to accost the person, beat and torture him/her until the person divulges the pin code to his/her ATM card(s) which they would have already taken. They proceed to confirm the code they have forced the victim to divulge is correct by using it in any nearby ATM machine (also definitely check the balance), after which they kill the person and set-up another deal for the next weekend while they continue withdrawing from their victims account(s).

It seems logical because in the build up to the deal, it’s logical that the person would have started accumulating money in his/her account towards the purchase. This scenario fits our colleague’s case. They called him on Friday night of 7th March, 2014 to meet-up with them, he went, they beat him and tortured him till he gave them his pin, they confirmed it and killed him. The same scenario played out again three weeks later only this time, one of the two people escaped to raise an alarm.

Please we all need to be careful not to fall for this or any other ‘honey trap’ be it via online or any other media.

SPREAD THE WORD - THEIR NEXT WOULD BE VICTIM COULD BE SAVED BY YOUR ACTIONS!!

PS.

Some of the learning(s) from this incident.

1. Stop receiving bank alerts on your phone (Kidnappers check phones for account balances and make withdrawals from accounts after obtaining the PIN from the kidnapped individual)

2. If possible, maintain a separate account for ATM use (separate your salary or main account from the account that has an ATM card. Someone says she has an account she transfers funds too for weekend use. Never a lot of money in that account so the loss of the card / account would not be an issue)

3. Have only one ATM card on you at any point in time (especially for ladies, do not put all your “cards” in one “bag”

4. ALWAYS let people know what you are up to (or where you are going to)

5. Be very wary of “deals” that seem too good to be true