Tears and loss of hope took over the heart of a 30-year-old woman, Promise Effiong, struggling to make ends meet as she narrated the ordeal of how she lost her life savings of N4.7m to disguised commercial vehicle drivers popularly called ‘one-chance’ robbers in Lagos State.

‘One-chance robber’ is a slang describing robbers who use various methods to rob unsuspecting passengers of their belongings under the guise of being commercial motorists. The activities of the robbers have become a threat to users of public vehicles. Effiong is one of the latest victims of the criminals.

On Tuesday, October 11, 2022 around 6am, while Effiong embarked on a trip to her workplace like every other day, little did she know that she would become a victim of ‘one chance’ robbers. The sales consultant narrated that she was robbed of her life savings when she unknowingly boarded the vehicle.



Effiong said that she boarded a Toyota Sienna going to Lekki at Alapere bus stop on that day with another lady, adding that she saw four passengers and the driver in the vehicle. She stated that the driver diverted the vehicle from the Third Mainland Bridge to a place where they were attacked and robbed by other passengers.


Effiong
She said, “On Tuesday, October 11, 2022, I left home and got to the bus stop around 6am. I boarded a Sienna bus going to the Island. My office is at Lekki where I work as a sales consultant. I joined the bus from Alapere but the driver instead of driving through the Third Mainland Bridge to link the Island, diverted towards Anthony. He claimed that there was traffic on the route to the bridge. There were seven of us on the bus. A lady also joined them at Alapere, making it two women and five men in the vehicle. I sat in the middle seat while the other lady sat at the back. As the driver drove on, the person who sat beside the driver came towards me and the man who sat at the back concentrated on the other lady.”

The distraught 30-year-old lady said the man who attacked her gripped her neck to force her to release her belongings.

She added, “As he gripped my neck, the man said I should calm down and cooperate with them. I didn’t know what was going on until he ordered me to lie flat on the legs of his colleagues. They asked for my ATM card but I didn’t quickly remember that I forgot it at home. I searched my bag and didn’t find it there. They said I was lying but I begged them to allow me to check my bag again. It was then I remembered that I forgot it at home. I told them that. But they had taken my two phones; iphone X smart and a Nokia phone and searched my bag thoroughly.’’

She stated that the robbers refused to let her go after they noticed alerts on one of the phones showing she had N4.7m in her account and released the other lady who had only N15, 000 in her account.

The lady stated that the robbers eventually transferred the money into four accounts, adding that at the end of each transaction, the account holders were called to confirm the transaction.

She said, “They attacked the other lady too. She brought out an ATM card that didn’t have any money. She said she had only N15, 000 in account. After they searched my phone, they asked how much I had and I told them N4.8m. They kept torturing the lady at the back but after a few minutes’ drive, they stopped the vehicle and got her out of the vehicle. They said she didn’t have money and should go, so the journey continued with me.

“They used a bag to cover me so that nobody would suspect that there was someone trying to call for help. When they took the iPhone Xsmart, they wanted the password and I told them that it had a face ID. I told them to bring it closer to my face so that I could open it for them but they shouted that they didn’t want to hear that and that I should just unlock the phone. I couldn’t really place the number so I told them some letters to match the numbers and that was how they got the code to access the phone.’’

She stressed that the robbers rubbed a balm mixed with pepper on her eyes as they hit her legs with a spanner, adding that she could hardly see with her left eye.

Effiong added, “They went through the phone, launched the app of the bank account on my phone, opened it and asked for my log in details. They entered their account details and asked for my transfer pin. After they had succeeded with the transactions, they asked me to choose between acid and peppered balm for my eyes before they would let me out. I chose the peppered balm and they used it on my eyes. When they wanted to drop me, they heard a passing police van and they held me down again saying that I shouldn’t move. They also placed a bag on me in order not to draw any attention to them. When we got to the bus stop, they told me to sit properly as if nothing happened. I did as they ordered and they gave me my bag. They threatened to rape and shoot me if I shook or move. I didn’t see their guns but they had knives and other tools.’’

She noted that immediately she was dropped at Ikeja, Maryland, Effiong called for help after which a passer-by came to her aid. She said the woman helped her dial on her phone, some numbers which were called offhand and the owners were informed about the attack.

The Akwa-Ibom indigene added that after reaching out to her fiancé, they proceeded to a police station to report the case.

“I was continuously slapped, mercilessly assaulted and hit repeatedly with a wheel spanner on my two knees to force me to give them access to my bank app. This is too much a pain for me to bear. I tried to access my email and I realised it has been hacked. Right now I cannot see with my left eye,” she noted.

A document titled “A clearing transactions tracking system” which Effiong gave to Sunday PUNCH showed N2.2m, N1m, N500, 000 and N1m were transferred respectively to the bank account details; Lawrence Clement Udo 1506749109 Access Bank, Olabode Alade Hamed 3010024081 ECO Bank, Adeniyi Olusanya 2007573497 Zenith Bank and Akinluwa Oluwabusayo 9443695012 FCMB.

Effiong’s younger brother, Marvelous said his sister had found it difficult to regain stability after the incident, adding that the family had been taking care of her.

Victims’ harrowing tales
A software engineer, Akinbiyi Gbolahan had yet to forget the distressing encounter on June 11, 2022 when he boarded a minibus on his way back home from work.

Gbolahan told our correspondent that he was not scared of taking the minibus as it was normal for him, unknowing that he had fallen into the hands of ‘one-chance’ robbers.

He said, “Regularly, a colleague of mine drops me off at Fadeyi Bus stop whenever we close late at work. Then he drives to Jibowu to link Yaba using the Jibowu under bridge and on my part, I take a bus or cab heading to Ojuelegba where I reside.’’

He stated that one day, when he got to Fadeyi at about 11.27 pm, he alighted and his colleague left, adding that as he used to do, he stood by the roadside to get a bus but for the next 15 to 20 minutes, he couldn’t get any bus, only the private vehicles that would not pick up a stranger at that time of the night.

He added that he did not suspect anything until one of the passengers alighted and the driver shouted “Ojuelegba” to call in another passenger.

“I didn’t know that it was a ploy. He asked me to enter with my exact fare but I told him I had N1, 000. He still told me to enter. I was not suspicious especially as a woman was the passenger who alighted and another lady sat beside the driver at the front, scrolling her phone.

“I sat on the empty first row close to the entrance because I envisaged that I would soon alight. Then, one of the men at the back row told me to move in a bit because he would soon alight. The bus was close to where he described as his bus stop and I moved inside at the front row. As I did that, the driver requested my fare. I opened my purse and handed him a N1000 note and he gave me a N900 change. I kept the money,’’ he said.

Shortly after he rested his back to settle in, Gbolahan noticed that a pistol rested gently beside him and he immediately complied with the order that he should drop his purse. As Gbolahan pretended to be Hausa, the gun-wielding man pleaded with the driver in Yoruba to drop him off the bus.

He further stated, “At that moment, the man told the driver in Yoruba that they should allow me to go. As he spoke with the driver, I pushed him away and jumped out of the bus. My trousers got torn and I sustained injuries. I thought of the N423,000 laptop, which I bought barely three months earlier and my phone which contained some important office files.”

https://punchng.com/one-chance-robbers-compound-commuters-woes-target-bank-details-wipe-off-savings/

New format.

December is fast approaching.

Let's be on guard.

Omooba77:

https://punchng.com/one-chance-robbers-compound-commuters-woes-target-bank-details-wipe-off-savings/

The current govt itself is a huge one chance ride for Nigerians.

Her monies can be retrieved since the transactions have termination points

Survive in Lagos and you can survive anywhere in the world except SAMBISA.