A Nigerian man has shared how he narrowly avoided falling victim to a WhatsApp scam after almost sending ₦135,000 to his neighbor’s account.
His neighbor had supposedly requested the money via WhatsApp, only for him to later receive a call informing him that the neighbor’s WhatsApp had been hacked and was being used by scammers to defraud contacts.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), the man recounted the incident in detail.
According to him, he received a WhatsApp message from his neighbor requesting an urgent ₦135,000.
Being occupied at the time, he handed his phone to his wife to process the transfer.
However, on second thought, he decided to verify the request by calling his neighbor via WhatsApp, but the calls went unanswered.
He then tried reaching him via a regular phone call, but it was the same.
Shortly after, his neighbor finally called back, sounding alarmed. He warned him that his WhatsApp account had been hacked and that scammers were attempting to defraud his contacts.
Unfortunately, another neighbor had already fallen victim, transferring the money to the fraudsters before realizing the deception.
Sharing his thoughts on the situation, the man wrote:
“Sometimes, it’s good to be broke.”
“On Saturday, I received a message from my neighbor asking me to send ₦135,000 to an account because he couldn’t access his own. I agreed and quickly handed my phone to my wife to make the transfer, as I was busy at that moment.”
“But just as I gave her the phone, I took it back to call my neighbor and confirm. Honestly, I don’t even know why I decided to confirm. I called him on WhatsApp and through a normal call, but he didn’t pick up. So, I thought, ‘If it’s really urgent, he’ll call back.’”
“Minutes later, he called me in a panic, shouting, ‘They’ve hacked my WhatsApp! Hope you haven’t sent any money? People have been calling me—our other neighbor already sent ₦135,000 to them!’”
“Omooo, I froze! Imagine if I had walked straight into debt just like that. The scammer kept reaching out to everyone, including me, until my neighbor finally retrieved his WhatsApp after 24 hours. Now, the big question is—what happens to our neighbor’s ₦135,000?”
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