Fraudsters Dupe Traders By Buying With Magic Money (Photo)

Fraudsters who defraud people by buying
goods with ‘magic’ or ‘mystic money’ are
on the prowl in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State
capital. The fraudsters sometimes pretend
to be tricycle riders or taxi drivers.
Yesterday, some of them entered a rice
shop on Aka- Etinan Road, Uyo and duped
a sales girl with alleged ‘magic money’ and
succeeded in going away with seven bags
of rice without full payment.
The story surprised passers-by. Narrating
her ordeal, the sales girl, Rose Etim, from
Mbiet Ebe Obio Uyo, said two men came to
the shop to purchase 10 bags of rice.
According to her, after telling them a bag
of rice was N12,000, the fraudsters paid
her N120,000 in N1,000 notes.
Etim said she counted the money before
putting it in her pocket but to her shock,
the money turned to N100 notes. She said:
“It all happened this morning (yesterday)
around 11 am.
Two men came in here to buy rice from
me.
I told them Ironic tomatoes rice cost
N12,000 per bag. They gave me money for
10 bags and I counted the money, it was
N120,000 naira.
I put the money in my jeans skirt pocket
and one of them went and sat in the car
while the second one and I started
carrying the rice to the vehicle.
“After carrying seven bags to their vehicle,
it was as if the money wanted to fall out of
my pocket. So, I pulled it out in order to
keep it where we used to keep sales money.
I now noticed that the money has changed
from N1,000 notes to N100 notes.”
Etim said she immediately raised the alarm
which drew the attention of neighbours.
But, according to her, the men jumped
inside their vehicle and zoomed off.
A witness, Mr Ubong Essien, who is a tailor
in a nearby shop, confirmed Etim’s story.