November 18,2022

Pelumi Adeshola (not real name), a Lagos-based data analyst, has narrated how he lost N20,000 to BOLDGAINS International, a supposed cryptocurrency trade platform, while trying to expose it.

Adeshola told FIJ that a stranger added him to the BOLDGAINS group on WhatsApp and then he began to receive messages urging him to invest

Right there on the group, someone gave a testimony of how he was paid, and another person debunked the testimony,” he told FIJ.

Adeshola said he then decided to test the platform’s authenticity.

“I decided to go a bit further to try to know what they stand for. I was aware of how deceptive they can be but just wanted a way of catching them red-handed.

“I approached Williams Innocent, one of the admin officers on the platform, and told him I wanted to invest. He asked me to invest in cryptocurrency, even when I knew crypto was down.

“He asked me to send N10,000 and I did.”

The data analyst stated that Wiliams, after the initial payment, requested for N5,000 to upgrade his cryptocurrency package.

“After the initial N10,000, he demanded that I pay another N5,000 for an upgrade. His excuse was that the package I had subscribed to was small and required an upgrade.

“I sent him the money and then he came back to request for more.”

Adeshola said that after paying N15,000, Williams requested for extra N5,000 as a registration fee.

“But the demands didn’t stop. They kept coming, and I realised that they were out to scam people from the outset,” said Adeshola

At some point, he asked me to trust the process, as they were not defrauding people, but he didn’t do anything with the N20,000 I paid to him.

“He didn’t invest in anything.”

When FIJ called Williams Innocent on Wednesday, his phone was switched off. A text message sent to him had also not been responded to at press time