A Lagos State resident had never anticipated becoming a victim of a scam when she sent N18,000 naira to an Instagram vendor two months ago. On March 25, she placed an order for a dress from the Instagram vendor known as wears.store_ng but received nothing in return.
Initially, the vendor had promised to deliver the dress by March 27, but as soon as the payment was received, the vendor ceased all communication with the victim. Blocking the victim on all platforms, the seller failed to deliver the promised dress. The victim had transferred the N18,000 naira to an account on PalmPay registered under the name Akinpelu Bode.
Despite reaching out to the vendor numerous times, either requesting the dress or a refund, the handler of the Instagram page remained silent. Two months have elapsed, and the victim has neither received any communication nor obtained the dress from the page’s handler.
Interestingly, further investigation revealed that the person managing the Instagram page changed the name from wears.store_ng to enchantress_wear. Additionally, the fraudster operates another page with over 12,000 followers under the name wearsnest_ng.
Both the enchantress_wear and wearsnest_ng pages share the same Instagram bio and phone number. Furthermore, while the vendor’s last post on the latter page was dated March 11, the most recent post on the former was made on May 20.
An inside source discovered that several other buyers have also fallen victim to the fraudulent activities of this Instagram vendor.
Further investigation revealed that the scammer uses different PalmPay account numbers to collect money from unsuspecting buyers.
On April 14, a user on nairaland.com issued a scam alert, warning others against engaging with this scammer. The user’s post confirmed the victim’s account that the vendor blocked her after receiving payment. The poster cautioned:
“BEWARE: Toluwalase Azeez Oloye/Tolu Azeez Oloye is a scammer on Instagram posing as a seller of female dresses. Once you make the payment, he will block you. His Palmpay account is 8069572524, and another account under the name Ugwu Queendaline, Palmpay 9133753869.
“His MTN WhatsApp number is +2347025280615. PLEASE send screenshots as evidence to support@palmpay.com to have his account flagged. The more people report, the better.
“He frequently changes the profile name of his Instagram account, some of the handles he has used include wearsnest_ng and enchantress_wear.”
In addition to the victim mentioned above, Abiola Olaniyan, a Nigerian residing in England, was also scammed by this vendor. Olaniyan shared her unfortunate experience in a Twitter post in December 2022. She revealed that she had sent money to the vendor for a clothing item intended for her wedding anniversary.
“After negotiating, I sent money to him/her. It was devastating to discover that I had been scammed. Based on recommendations, I transferred money to Stephen Oluwatoyin Ajibade, 8168668378, PalmPay.
“For the past week, my messages and calls have been ignored, and [the vendor] even went as far as blocking me on Instagram,” Olaniyan expressed.
Details of scammer:
Account Name:Akinpelu Bode
Account Number:8136255614
Bank: Palmpay
Account Name: Stephen Oluwatoyin Ajibade
Account Number:8168668378
Bank: Palmpay
Account Name: Toluwalase Azeez Oloye/Tolu Azeez Oloye
Account Number: 8069572524
Bank: Palmpay
Whatsapp Phone Number: +2347025280615
Source: Website/ fij.ng /Abimbola Abatta
