A Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) student has accused Jonathan Daodu, a real estate agent in Lagos, of scamming her out of N1.6 million.
The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told FIJ that she met Daodu after a friend’s mother referred him when she started house hunting.
She said she contacted Daodu on November 25 and discussed her plans to get a two-bedroom apartment, to which he said he had a property to let on Coker Street in Ilupeju for N1.69 million.
The day she visited the property for inspection, she said Daodu took her around the property. He told her she would need to fix the doors, tiles and ceiling. The following day, the student’s mother went there to check the property.
READ ALSO: RECIRCULATED: The FIJ Story Landwey Wanted Cloudflare to Take Down
“On November 27, I made a payment of N1.69 million to Daodu. He confirmed the transaction and told me to come to his house the next day for the receipt of the house, which I did,” the student told FIJ.
The source’s receipt
She said that after making the payment, she would occasionally call Daodu to ask about the progress of the repairs they had discussed, and he assured her they were being worked on.
“In the second week of December, I told him that I would go to the house to see for myself what he had done so far, and he said no problem. But the day I went there, a man stopped me and asked who I was looking for,” she said.
Another receipt
“I said I was the one who paid for the apartment and that I came to inspect the repairs. The man said he was the landlord and that he gave the house to a pregnant woman and her husband. He said they were also the ones doing the POP ceiling and changing the doors, and that the house costs N3 million annually. They paid N6 million for two years.”
READ ALSO: Only 12 Apartments Were Available. But Lagos Builder, ‘Landlord’ Collected Money from 142 House Seekers
She could not believe her ears because Daodu had earlier told her he was managing the property since the landlord was overseas.
After hearing what the supposed landlord had said, the student called Daodu to relay the shocking piece of information to him, but he said he wasn’t around and would attend to her when he returned.
Another receipt
“The following day, I went to where he stays, but they told us that it was a service apartment and that the manager of the apartment was also looking for him because he owed them N400,000 for the time he stayed there,” she said.
“At that point, I told him to refund me because there was no need to sort anything since the landlord had given the house to someone else. He said there was no problem and that he would send the money by 2 pm on the same day.
“I waited, but he didn’t send it. I called, but he stopped picking my calls. I have called so many times, but he no longer takes my calls.”
FIJ repeatedly called Daodu on Thursday for comments, but he did not take the calls. He had not responded to the text sent to him at press time.
The post Posing as Real Estate Agent, Jonathan Daodu Scams Student of N1.6m appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.