A Nigerian student living in Kent, England, has accused Nnamdi Ibezim, the founder of Reportera News, of withholding his N5,325,000.
The student, who prefers anonymity, said he transferred the naira equivalent of £2,500 to Ibezim on April 30 after the latter claimed he had pounds to sell.
He said Ibezim was an acquaintance from a WhatsApp group called Kent Support Group, created to help Nigerians settling in the area exchange information, offer support and trade currencies informally.
The Nigerian student said he needed to pay his tuition in April and was looking for someone who would give him £2,500 in exchange for naira.
That was when Ibezim reached out to him from the Kent WhatsApp group.
“When he sent me a direct message, I realised he had messaged me in 2023, but I didn’t deal with him. So, I didn’t know he was fraudulent. No one in the group had the amount I was looking for, so I transferred the money to him after he told me he had £2,500,” the Nigerian student told FIJ.
“But once I transferred the money to Ibezim’s Providus Bank account, he said he hadn’t received the money and that I should go and check my bank. I started calling him, but he didn’t respond. The group admin, who knows him, called him, but he said he didn’t receive the money.”
The student said Ibezim later sent a screenshot, claiming there was no money in his account. He said the members of the Kent WhatsApp group asked Ibezim to generate a statement of account to show that the money didn’t enter his account, but he didn’t.
“He said he couldn’t generate a statement because he had no record in the bank. Ibezim sent a screenshot, blurring out the part of the app that says ‘generate statement’ and went to the ‘bills’ section instead of the ‘transaction’ section,” said the student.
“Ibezim took a screenshot of the bills section, which was showing no record made, and sent it to us as proof that no money entered his account. But my bank confirmed he did receive the N5.3 million. He is now saying no money had come. I told him not to try this with me.”
The student, whose tuition is long overdue, said that after some days, Ibezim started telling him his approach wouldn’t help both of them and that he needed to stay calm.
“Since then, he has stopped responding to my messages and picking my calls. He later came back with another screenshot. He’s attempting to run away with the funds. Some others have accused him of this same type of theft,” said the student.
As of press time, Ibezim had not responded to our questions.
In the last five days, some individuals have called out Ibezim on X for defrauding others. His X page is also off the internet.
In 2023, the Nigeria Police Force paraded Ibezim for pushing a false story about Babatunde Fashola, former minister of works and housing.
He claimed that Fashola was involved in drafting a controversial verdict in the Presidential Election Petition Court and that the military had been deployed to his residence to restrict movement.
