Whenever I remember the story of what my good friend (Amaka) experienced, I wonder if it actually happened.

The story sounds so shocking and unrealistic but many who have experienced it or seen someone who have experienced it have all agreed that it was true. Till now, I'm still shocked. Yet, I don't wish to experience it.

In all my whole life on earth, prior to when I heard about this, I couldn't imagine that scamming had gone beyond "cooking up" stories to convince someone to pay for something or a product, and then running away with the money, or maybe something like the MMM and other Ponzi schemes that Romanced the Nigerian Internet space in the year 2016 and 2017.

Scamming has gone Spiritual!

Oh, no!

I realised this late! And this realisation was as a result of Amaka's experience.

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TRUST?

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Based on what I heard from a reliable source, Amaka herself, it all happened on the first of April 2005. As at that time we were around 9, 10 and 11 years.

We still had the childhood behaviour and playfulness in us, what do you expect from children? However, since we entered high school at an early age, we tried to act as though we were mature. Well, this earned us respect as well as trust from our parents and family friends.

This trust was so strong to the point that many people know us to be responsible and to handle tasks way beyond our age.

But, this was the mistake they made: trusting little children up to the point of them knowing where their parents kept their monies (especially since many of them prefer to keep it in their safe place at home, rather than in the banks).

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AMAKA'S EXPERIENCE WITH THE VOODOO SCAMMER

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On that very day, Amaka came back from school around 1:10pm. Yes, that was on a Friday and schools close as early as 12 or 1pm.

She rushed home because her mother had given her the task of preparing the family meal for dinner, and to buy items from the Market for Sunday rice and stew. Did I mention that she was the first and only girl out of 4 children?

Well, that's by the way.

Her mother had a program to attend on Friday and Saturday, so she made Amaka the mother of the house (for that day). Hence, Amaka had to come home early enough to prepare herself for the task before her.

Immediately she came back home, she freshened up and went to the market to buy foodstuffs.

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I know Amaka to be a girl who is so focused and not easily distracted when she sets her mind to achieve a goal. However, it still remains unclear to me how she got enticed by this young man who was two times her age.

She told me he only asked her for direction to the Local Hospital around, and as she was describing it to him the only thing she remembers was when she received a hot Slap from her Father. And she fell down as though she was under spiritual anointing.

But what really happened?

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OTHER WITNESSES AND THE EVENTS THAT FOLLOWED

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We couldn't get the complete story from her because she was unconscious and didn't know what was happening.

👁

One of the eye witnesses in the Market said the young man held her on her hands as though she was his younger sister and they went to many shops to purchase different items: sweets, biscuits and toys.

No one suspected that something fishy was going on.

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Some children in the compound said they saw her coming back from the Market alone, but she was with a bag (not the Market bag she went with). They said she came back and after few minutes she went back, and they noticed that the bag was a bit heavy.

However, they weren't bothered because they knew she was a workaholic and not playful like them.

The second time she came back, she was sweating profusely and was with the same bag. She came home scattering the house once more.

Lucky for her, her Father closed his shop early and returned home to get a document that was required by the Local Government officials. When he came back, he saw that the house was in a messy condition. He also heard some movement in his room, he rushed and opened the door and he saw his beloved daughter scattering everywhere in search of money.

She had already broken the first safe and she was looking for her father's safe.

It was as though the scammer planned to empty the family's life savings through this young girl.

He called out her name thrice and she neither replied nor turned back, it was then he realised that his daughter was under an enchantment.

Immediately, he gave her three hot slaps with his left hands.

By the way, Legend has it that if you slap them with the left hand, the enchantment clears off and they are back to their senses again without having knowledge of what they did.

She fell down and regained consciousness. Not knowing what was happening, she began to cry.

Was it because lf the hotness of the Slap? Or side effect of the mood she has been? No one knows.

I heard from another source that the first money she gave to the man was about N200,000 (Naira) = $1,540 at the rate of (N130 = $1, in 2005)... right now (N610 = $1).

_{The harshness of the inflation made me to write the post from the Local Man View. You can read it here}

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When she regained consciousness, her Father wanted to trace the scammer so that he could recover all the money. But,

IT WAS TOO LATE; THE SCAMMER FLED WITH ALL THE MONEY

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• Designs were made through Canva Mobile Application
• Screenshot from my mobile phone

Thank you for reading my post, I would love to hear what you feel in the comment section below

This post is an entry for the Hive Learner's Week 17, Edition 1 topic on Scammer Encounter