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Residents of Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, are counting their losses after a ‘cheap’ food vendor in the Odi-Olowo area abruptly shut down and vanished with millions of naira in advance payments from customers.
Thefrontrank reports that the vendor collected advance payments from scores of customers for low-cost food packages.
The vendor reportedly offered rice, cooking oil, spaghetti, and semovita at prices significantly below market rates, attracting many buyers who paid in advance for future delivery.
However, the scheme collapsed on Monday when the vendor closed shop unexpectedly.
It was gathered that the vendor lured customers with giveaway prices, selling a 50kg bag of rice for ₦27,000, 25 litres of cooking oil for ₦30,000 and a pack of spaghetti for ₦10,000.
Customers were required to pay upfront and return a week later to collect their orders.
Trouble started when information filtered in that the business owner had absconded, prompting a large crowd to gather at the shop.
The business premises was besieged by angry customers on Monday who lamented their losses, while others expressing frustration over the loss of their money.
Some victims, mostly women, were seen crying and lamenting their fate, while others sat on the pavement arguing in groups, with a few still expressing hope that the shop owner would return and reopen.
One of the victims, who identified herself as Mrs Gloria, said she paid ₦810,000 for bags of rice, cooking oil and other food items.
“I paid last Monday because the price was too cheap to ignore, and I was to come today to pick up my items.
“When I got here this morning, the shop was locked, and people were crying. I have been calling the number; it is switched off. I used my contribution money to pay; I am finished,” she lamented.
Another victim, Mr Tajudeen Adeyemi, who said he mobilised family members to patronise the vendor, described the incident as a well-planned fraud.
“I paid ₦135,000 for five bags of rice. I even introduced my sister and my neighbour because I thought it was genuine. Now the owner has run away with our money. This is wickedness,” he said.
Speaking on the development, a resident, Adabanija Sulaiman, who was not a victim, said that the business model resembled fraudulent schemes where participants were lured with promises of high returns.
“It is like those people that will say you should come and invest with small money and get a large amount of money.
“They’re selling their food stuff at low prices, so many people have paid for them to buy it at low prices and resell at the normal prices of those products,” Sulaiman said.
The incident raised questions about the vendor’s operations and the fate of the victims.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Osun State Police Command, Abiodun Ojelabi, said that the command was unaware of the incident.
“We are not aware of such. There’s no report to that effect,” he stated.
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