Car Dealer Gets Fake Alert, Customer Absconds During Test Drive

Olatubosun Gafar, a car dealer, has been left completely distraught after a customer, Segun Opeyemi, sent him a fake alert of N6.2m and absconded with one of his cars, in the Ijebu Ode area of Ogun State.

PUNCH Metro gathered that Opeyemi walked into Gafar’s office last Wednesday and told him that he was interested in buying a Toyota Camry 2014 model Spyder, parked in the compound.

According to the 39-year-old, Opeyemi returned on Thursday morning, made payment for the car and also sent the receipt to him on WhatsApp messenger.

However, Gafar explained that Opeyemi after payment requested to test drive the car and also withdraw money from a bank close to them.

He added that he joined him in the car, but things took another turn when Opeyemi called his mother and told her that he was coming to see her in his new car.

Gafar explained further that at that point, he got a call from the office asking them to return and collect the receipt and new number plate for the car, but Opeyemi refused, insisting that he did not want to keep his mother waiting at an alleged Sawmill bus stop, in Ijebu Ode.

The buyer pleaded with the car dealer, gave him N50,000 and told him he would return in 10 minutes for the receipt and number plate, so he (Gafar) alighted and Opeyemi zoomed off.

Gafar said, “On Wednesday, around 4 pm at Ijebu Ode, beside Spicy Chicken, a man came into the office, saw a Spider Toyota Camry, a 2014 model and said he liked it and was interested in buying it.

“While he was checking the car, a friend I know called him and told him that they had found another car, that he should come to check it out and he collected my number and left.

“Thirty minutes later, he called me that he didn’t like the car he went to see, and that he would come the next morning to buy my car.

“On Thursday morning, he came, tested the car and said he liked it. He told me he had transferred the agreed N6.2m to my account and he sent the receipt to me on WhatsApp.

“I called someone to come and do the change of ownership and number plate.

“While we were waiting for the man to come, he said he wanted to withdraw small cash that he would give to the boys at a First Bank branch close to us, I accepted but joined him in the car.

“Getting to the bank, the crowd was much and he said we should move forward and see if we would find any Point of Sale agents to withdraw from.

“Driving there, he called his mother and told her he had bought a car and that he was coming to meet her at the Sawmill, that he wanted her to be the first to enter the car.

“Immediately, someone called me from the office that the person to do the number plate was waiting for us, so I told him to turn around so we could go and get it done but he pleaded with me that his mum would be waiting in the road. That I should please let him go and meet her.

“He gave me the particulars of the car and N50,000 to go and give the boys and also pay for the number plate, that he would be back in 10 minutes.

“I don’t know what he used on me, but that was how I got out of the vehicle and he drove off.”

Gafar lamented that he waited for the money to reflect in his account but it didn’t, so he visited an Eco Bank nearby and was told that it was a fake alert.

“I tried calling the number he gave to me after the bank confirmed that it was a fake alert that he showed me, but his number has not been going. It was registered with an Aboki name,” he said.

Gafar said he reported to the police at the Area Command, Igbeba Police Station, Ijebu Ode.

When contacted, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, said she had a lot that she was working on at the moment and that she would get back to our correspondent. She was yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

She said, “Please, be patient. I have a lot that I am working on right now. I will get back to you once I get to the office.”