A Nigerian Solo traveller, Linda Igwe has narrated how she was nearly duped by some airport workers during her recent trip to Tanzania.
According to Igwe, the man who initiated the scam had approached her at the airport to demand her visa but swiftly informed her that she needed to return to Nigeria because she had booked the wrong flight.
She added that after some persistence, the man offered to help him but requested that she pay $200 to a lady at the counter.
Igwe, while narrating what transpired said the man told her, “Madam, you have to go back to Nigeria and I asked what for. He replied to me that my visa number is for Zanzibar and not for Tanzania. He asked me to return to Nigeria and fly to Zanzibar but I queried his instruction. At some point, I was worried that people were staring at me so I asked what I could do to salvage the situation. It was then he directed me to give a lady at the counter $200 to resolve my issue. I was shocked then I told him I couldn’t afford it, he asked his much I could part with, when I said nothing, he insisted it had to be $100 at least.
“I was instructed to keep the money inside my documents but the Nigerian spirit in me told me to remove the money before getting to the counter. I obeyed my spirit and when I gave her the visa, she stamped it immediately. Seeing that she stamped my visa, the man came forward to ask if I had given her the $100. He was speaking in their language but I could pick up some of their words and body language.
“Knowing I didn’t pay, the man left angrily, telling the lady at the counter that she should have asked him the details of his conversation with me. When the man left, the woman started asking me where the money was. She withheld my passport and was asking for the money. Eventually, I gave her $20 because I felt she was hungry.”
