Shockwaves are reverberating across Yorùbáland and the global Yorùbá diaspora following the sudden death of the Baba Ọba (King’s Father) of the famed Oyotunji African Village in South Carolina, USA. The late Baba Ọba, Lukman Arohunfale, a revered socialite and traditionalist, passed away under circumstances already sparking fierce controversy. His death comes just days after he publicly accused the newly installed Alaafin of Oyo, His Imperial Majesty Oba Akeem Adéyẹmọ Owoade, of allegedly ordering his courtiers to beat him mercilessly during a recent courtesy visit to the Oyo palace in Nigeria. In a widely circulated voice recording, the deceased recounted how what was meant to be a simple homage turned violent. Although the Baba Ọba had reportedly battled ill health in the past year, growing insinuations suggest that the alleged physical assault may have aggravated his condition, ultimately leading to his untimely death. The palace in Oyo recently denied that s...
A UCD student has spoken of how she and her friends were conned out of more than €4,000 by a fraudulent accommodation scam.
Rebecca Hart contacted RTE Radio One’s Liveline to describe how she had come across a five-bedroom property available for the next academic year, and said the listing seemed “too good to be true”.
“We’re looking for accommodation for next year, which as everyone knows is no easy feat at the moment,” she told the programme.
While browsing property website Daft.ie, they discovered a house on Leopardstown Avenue in Stillorgan. They decided one member of the group would be the point of contact, so she messaged the advertiser to see if the house was still available.
“They said they were an elderly couple, they had a house here but had moved over to the UK and they wanted someone who would mind the house while they were away,” she said.
“They were also advertising through TripAdvisor, and they said if we followed the link through their TripAdvisor it would be easier for them. It was TripAdvisor.co.uk, which made sense to us because they were a UK couple.”
The couple, who called themselves Lloyd and Martha, sent through pictures of themselves, and told the girls about TripAdvisor’s payment protection scheme, which allows that if customers are not satisfied with their booking they will be offered a full refund.
“We had looked into it ourselves and it was legit, so we followed through the links and were happy enough,” Rebecca said.
“It was almost too good to be true really, but between the four of us we managed to beg, borrow and steal to get the €4,400 of a deposit for the house.”
She explained that each of the girls transferred their money into one account, and the total sum was then transferred to Lloyd and Martha’s account.
The couple suggested a viewing date, but when none of the girls could make it to the viewing and requested another date, they heard nothing in response.
“That’s when they didn’t reply. It took about a week and half, we were still waiting with no reply, when the girl who was the main contact messaged them again and said, ‘listen if we don’t hear from you, for us it’s quite a scary situation, we will have to go ahead with legal action’.”
When they again failed to reply, she went to her bank, where she was told they couldn’t help.
“She then went to the guards and they listened and took a statement but we weren’t that confident in them,” Rebecca said.
Her friend visited a different branch of her bank, where an assistant contacted the head office fraud squad, and also sent an urgent letter Barclays, the UK bank they had transferred the funds too, requesting a recall of the funds.
“They came back and said the money had already been withdrawn from the account,” Rebecca said.
After contacting TripAdvisor with their booking reference and providing screenshots, they learned the booking did not exist, and that it was a fake version of their website.
Daft.ie confirmed it had been a fraudulent listing and offered to cooperate with a Garda investigation, but told them there was nothing more they could do.
“We’re waiting for the guards unfortunately, that seems to be a lot slower than we would like. The bank has been very helpful but there’s only so much they can do,” she said.
When checking her bank transactions, Rebecca’s friend noticed the couple had attempted to take a further €70 to buy a website domain. Luckily, she was able to cancel the transaction in time.
“It’s near impossible to find accommodation right now,” Rebecca said. She added that they had been drawn to this property because of the reasonable rent - €2,200 per month, with all bills included – and the offer of four double bedrooms and one twin bedroom.
“Two of us are nursing students so we’re based in the Mater hospital, and the location for us was key. For the rest of them, it was to be on the route straight into UCD. It was an ideal situation,” she said.
“We’re now really anxious when looking for a new place. We’re all upset about it, but I’ve said all along that we have to stick together.”
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