Lagos – A Nigerian lady has gone viral online after recounting how a man she met during a solo restaurant outing allegedly gained her trust and disappeared with ₦500,000.
According to her account, the encounter began innocently. She was dining alone when a waiter brought her a bottle of wine she didn’t order. The waiter pointed to a man seated opposite her, saying he sent it. She accepted the gesture.
“When I was done eating, the guy came to my table. We talked randomly, and later the waiter brought the bill. He told me not to pay, that he would take care of it. We exchanged contacts, and he also paid for my cab,” she said.
The man didn’t call for a week. When he finally reached out, he apologized, cited being “busy,” and later invited her for a second date at what she described as a “very classy restaurant with a good ambiance.” A cab was sent to pick her up.
Midway through dinner, he began stepping outside repeatedly, looking “sad and worried.” He later told her he had an urgent issue and needed money to “clear something” that was about to drop. He wasn’t specific.
“He said he had reached his transfer limit and the only money he had left was the ₦200,000 meant for our date. I offered to help. At first he declined, but later accepted,” she narrated.
She transferred ₦500,000 and also offered to cover the dinner bill so the total would be ₦700,000. He promised to refund her once he got home and said she should “get ready to be spoiled.”
That night his number stopped going through. By the next day, he had allegedly blocked her on all platforms.
Her story has since sparked conversations online about “romance scams” and the dangers of lending money to new acquaintances. Cybersecurity experts warn Nigerians to be cautious with unsolicited gestures from strangers and to avoid sending money to people they barely know, no matter how convincing the story.
As at press time, there’s no independent confirmation of the lady’s claims, and efforts to reach the man in question were unsuccessful.
