Are you familiar with the unpopular saying, “Lagos is not for the weak.”? To survive in Lagos, you have to be bold, ambitious, and most importantly, street-smart. Only when you possess these characteristics can you survive in a city where random strangers yell at you for no reason, and everyone walks as though they are being pursued.
While being street-smart can be applicable in every part of the world, making good use of it in Lagos would save you the chance of shedding tears, especially when you go to a famous market called Computer Village.
Computer Village is a market located in Ikeja where people buy and sell assorted phones, laptops, computers, and accessories. Many people also visit the market, including those living outside Lagos, to repair gadgets and appliances.
Computer village has a solution for every individual’s tech need.
However, besides being the go-to place for gadgets, Computer Village is widely known as the headquarters of scam artists, who eagerly search for their next prey.
Over the years, we have seen and heard stories of people who went to the market with high hopes of getting a product, only to get scammed.
Nobody, especially you, deserves to be blindsided. In this article, we list five schemes to be aware of when visiting the Computer Village.
Switch and Bait
This is an old technique. The con artist gives a phone to a potential customer to check out. If the customer likes it, they pay for the product. Then the seller asks them to return the phone for “proper packaging.” The seller then swaps the phone for a fake.
Fake Naira notes
Never buy a gadget from someone who does not own a shop. Many of those who offer to sell you a gadget at a ridiculous price do not have good intentions.
Narrating his story, a social media user recalled how he was sold an iPhone for a very cheap amount by a man in the Computer Village. Then the man changed his mind and asked for the phone, offering to pay him back his money. The guy collected it, and it wasn’t until he decided to count it that he realised that instead of wads of cash, he was given papers wrapped around a thousand-naira note.
Stolen phones
With the rate at which phones are stolen, always ask for receipt when you buy a phone.
Lately, we have seen people getting arrested for possessing stolen phones. When interrogated, they argue that they did not steal it but bought it from a shop in the Computer Village.
No matter how sleek or cheap a phone might be, if it doesn’t have a receipt, don’t buy it, especially if it’s a used phone.
The pickpockets
The Computer Village is a busy place, with different people. So when navigating through the crowd, keep a close eye on your valuables. And if you stop by a store to ask for a product, don’t get too distracted.
The trick is that once they notice you are distracted, either your purse or wallet gets snatched.
