FIJ
Funso Adebola (not real name), a Lagos-based entrepreneur, has always been wary of travel agents. She knew the risks associated with processing visas, long before she consulted Sky With Us Travels in June 2023. At of the time, she had everything she needed to leave the country, save for a trustworthy travel agent and a little extra cash.
Adebola took the extra step of finding out every detail about the owners of the travel agency. Aside from the media presence of the owners and staff of this agency, Adebola found newspaper publications and awards that convinced her of the legitimacy of the agency.
In her interview with FIJ, this was what Adebola said about how far she went to confirm that Sky With Us Travels wasn’t a scam:
“To be very sure, I did a background check where I came by the owner with the Instagram handle @sky_superwoman. She claimed to be a certified travel agent/ consultant and had pictures of certifications to back up the claim.
“I checked on Linkedin and I realised that she had even been awarded by the PCP, This Day, and some other newspapers. I saw award and publication timelines that date as far back as two years before I decided I wanted to travel.
“I went to their office in June to make inquiries and see those behind the business myself. I looked up the husband and wife that own the company, what they do, and people that they had done business with. When I got to the office, I even took images of some of the staff and the certifications I found on the walls.”
When the agency then advised Adebola in July to pay N9 million for a CoS, she was not going to hesitate. She had concluded that she would use the agency’s services after she met with its staff twice at the agency’s office building in Lekki, Lagos State.
However, caution nudged her again when the agent assigned to her recommended that she send the money for her CoS to an account number that didn’t belong to the organisation.
Once again, Adebola went the extra mile to verify. She called the agent to inform them about the account name. Every time she called the agents, they reassured her that it was safe to deposit into the account.
“The first time I had questions was when they gave me an account, not the company’s account, to pay into. The name of the account is Drizzy Dee. I asked one time and they assured me to pay into the account. The second time I asked, they explained that it was the account of an agent of theirs in the United Kingdom. They said it was an agent company that I should send the money to and that they would issue a receipt to me and all that.”
Adebola paid the first installment of the N5 million in July into the account of this agent. By August, Adebola had paid the complete N9 million to the supposed agent company affiliated with the brand. But that singular decision was the beginning of Adebola’s current predicament…
