A friend shared a scary story with me on how he’s struggling with depression and suicide thought for losing his life savings to an online investment scam, and after sending him some messages, I feel very strongly in my spirit to share my own experience to encourage thousands of people out there who may be in similar situation. It’s lengthy but trust me, it’s worth your time.
Let’s begin!
A few years ago, during the heydays of Swiss Gold (Mechino), I invested N1.4m in the scheme. It was actually N2m but N600k was not my personal money; it belonged to partners who made it up to N2m so we can make enough profit to share.
I had given my big brother, Frank Ikemti (Frankborn) some money to help me buy my first ever car from Lagos few days before making this investment. My thinking was that I’ll make at least, N1m from this business in just about forty days.
I had rented and furnished a one bedroom apartment in Calabar from scratch just before this time. Everything was going on well and working as planned. I was happy and buzzing because things were happening so fast in my life.
Forty days after the investment, things started falling apart. We started hearing stories that Mechino was a ponzi scheme and had crashed. I didn’t believe the stories. I thought it was a joke. I kept hoping that somehow, something magical or miraculous would happen for me to get paid.
Operators of the scheme kept giving us hope and even when the situation appeared bleak, I remained hopeful that something could still happen. And actually, something happened, only that it wasn’t what I was expecting. My money and those of thousand others entered voicemail.
As I was trying to recover from this shock, I realized the one bedroom apartment I rented, renovated (painted) and furnished from scratch was gotten from a wrong source. I was simply “duped” by a company that rented an entire compound then leased my apartment to me. The manager lied to me that his company was holding ten years tenership of the property.
In December of that year, the Manager who was leaving in the compound told me he was traveling for Christmas holiday to return before new year. I had no reason to doubt him because we had lived together for four months and his girlfriend was even in the compound when he traveled. However, I didn’t know that was going to be the last time to see him till date.
Few days after he traveled, 28th of December of that year precisely, the owner of the property stormed the compound and declared me an illegal occupant. I explained how I got the apartment and showed her proof of payment. She called the owner of the company to confirm that I actually paid for the apartment which he did.
But I realized from that call that the ten years the Manager told me was a barefaced lie as their rent was actually remaining three months from when I paid. They were even owing for the three things. What they did was to simply collect one year rent from me to offset their three months rent to allow them walk out freely at the end of the year.
The owner of the property, a middle-age lady, after confirming from the owner, acted like she was going to help me recover my money or allow me stay till the expiration of my rent because I was barely four months in the apartment. But about a week later, she returned with an ultimatum that of two weeks to leave. I pleaded with her to give me time or even allow me pay her another rent because I wasn’t ready to go through the stress of looking for another apartment, renovating, paying agent fee and all of that. But she refused.
As I was searching for an apartment, before even the expiration of the ultimatum, one day she stormed into the compound again and asked that I must leave that day. I pleaded with her that I was going to inspect an apartment that day and would move the next day whether I like it or not. But she refused. She threw some of my stuffs out and even threatened to arrest or call area to throw all my things out if I didn’t leave.
I started making arrangements to move my stuffs to a friend’s place pending when I’ll see a house. As I was making calls, I was crying. I didn’t know what was happening. A few months before that time, I was happy because everything was just going on so well for me. Then, in a twinkle of an eye, everything turned messy. I was yet to get over the reality that I was loosing N1.4m and had to deal with the issue of homelessness.
I had elder brothers in Calabar that I would have gone to stay with but I was determined not to get my family involved. I moved my things to Frank Ati’s house and was sleeping somewhere else. After about a month or so, I finally got an apartment. But this was not the end of the story.
After I moved into my new apartment, I did small business and had some money again. This time, forex trading was the order of the day. A friend told me of another of our friend who was doing well in the business and we decided to invest through him. I invested N1.5m while my friend that introduced me to the business invested N500k. Another N2m business, right?
Well, to cut the long story short, it ended almost like the first investment. The only difference was that, with this, the friend we invested through was genuine. He used about five years to refund a large part of the capital, although in piecemeal. We didn’t make a dime from the business!
If I say these situations didn’t affect me, I’ll be lying. They did but I controlled it. I didn’t allow it control me one but. Even my family members did not know about it. Some would be knowing about it for the first time from this piece.
I guided my mind jealousy because I always believed that whatever I don’t have control over shouldn’t control my mind. If I had control over the situation, I wouldn’t have allowed my resources drain like that or make myself homeless after spending so much.
I don’t know how many persons are in similar situation today as my friend. But I want you to protect your heart jealousy. Don’t allow yourself fall into depression because depression won’t solve the problem. Wake up! Pick the pieces of your life together and move on.
When you the situation strikes you hard, remember the words Confucius, a Chinese Philosopher that “our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall”. Learn from your mistakes like I did and move on to greater things. The future is full of great opportunities that you shouldn’t allow the disappointment of the past deny you of.
Inyali Peter (Ph.D) is a journalist from Obudu, Cross River North.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Inyali Peter (Ph.D), and do not represent the opinion of TheInvestigator or any other organization the author works for/with.