Spot the conman:A big surprise for online shoppers.

Socialite MR  Lazarus ( not real name ) post  business and  social  daily events on the social platforms ,Facebook ,twitter ,LinkedIn and Instagram inviting friends online to visit his Facebook page and enjoy socializing online ,talking business and enter into different business deals and transactions .

He liked to be recognized and appreciated by followers on his social platforms when it comes to dropshipping and outsourcing good or services, linking firms and individuals and service providers.

This covid19 lockdown have seen my followers growing each and every minute said Mr. Lazarus as he opened his inbox full of request by followers.   He reads one of the messages written

“Hi Mr. Lazarus, hope I find you well this morning, how is business over there ……….. I would like to advertise my products on your page how much does this cost? Regard Wilom, USA.

MR Lazarus reply this latter without hesitating, giving the price, phone number and banking details and some terms and conditions.

The next thing that was done by Wilom was to send the money three times and flyer to advertise cheap laptops and cellphones.

Without much delay Mr. Lazarus post the flyer on his Facebook page, thousands of followers liked the post, and hundreds inbox Mr Lazarus because the advert did not have contact details.

Mr Lazarus inbox Wilom to supply contact details, phone number and address, but this was the reply.

“Thank you Lazarus for working hard  to  get customers who have inbox  their orders to you , I will make you my agent to sell the gadgets, provide them with your detail as you did to me ,they will make payments through your account there after you will sent it into my account .

“I will give you 10 percent commission plus basic salary of US 1000 per month, as for this month we just take orders, no commission but I will pay you salary.” writes Wilom

Lazarus buy the concept as he check the engagements and analytics on his page, he replied.

“Thank you Wilom, I was waiting for such great opportunity, as such I would like to start as soon as possible, for your own information I have more than 100 people who place there order today.” he replied

 Hours later Lazarus got a reply from Wilom to take only twenty orders only, full payment, send them together with the money to his account.

It was a challenge to Lazarus who had  many friends and family members who needed the laptops and cellphones.

Lazarus collected the money and send it to willom who promised to deliver the gadgets within a week.

 Exactly one week later ,Lazarus got the message from a local freight company to receive the parcel  from Wilom ,it was an amazing moment for the socialite  who started by alerting the page followers that the first batch of goods have arrived , he posted pictures and inviting  the customers to collect the gadgets from his home office .

Wilom sent him his commission and monthly salary, it was awesome, and the socialite waited for Wilom to give him go ahead to take orders.

After two weeks Wilom send the new document with how the orders were supposed to be done and treated.

“ Hie Lazarus  I hope I find you well ,here is the new schedule of taking order, we are now accepting a batch of fifty people, for this month sent 3 batches all full payment .” he said

 Lazarus posted this on his page within some hours all three batches were there, thus 150 people.

Within few days all people were paid up and he send the money to Wilom.

After a week later the gadgets for the first batch of fifty arrived, the socialite posted the pictures followers boom, as mutual trust grows.

The second and third batch waited anxiously for their good in the second week, and third week respectively to no-avail.

Lazarus try to contact Wilom only to get a big surprise Wilom disappeared from the social media, the account was deleted .So was someone being conned? If so who and how

ANSWER: The socialite was conned out of the last two batches of 50 people each. When the goods were not delivered a week later, he find out that the social media accounts were deleted .Wilom was not a company but someone who had access to cheap good abroad.

Wilom had recognized his victim taking advantage of his popularity and pose as a supplier of cheap electric gadgets, he could use the bait of delivering well in batches. And fixing delivery date for a week later gave him time to receive the money and delete the accounts from social media   and disappear before he could be apprehended.

Advice: individual supply are almost always tricky for bulk buying, as this must be done by registered dealers and companies. As the conman said use your account, he knew that it was a challenge to convince people to pay hence use Lazarus’ account.

Before enter into any deal online follow the trends of the person or the company. Stay alert.

email:tafamutsika51@gmail.com