It is not unusual to see extreme-stage cancer sufferers on the highways and streets of urban cities in Nigeria begging for financial support. Lagos is especially notorious for this and you encounter them in all nooks and crannies of the metropolitan with bulging eyes, grotesque face, swollen arms and legs, protruding stomach and bandaged chest area, which is common among women living with breast cancer.

Sometimes, they parade unaccompanied, but mostly, they have assistants that broadcast their ailments and collect benefits on their behalf.

The cancer patients easily arouse people’s sympathy due to their physical condition, who in turn part with their money.

Findings have shown, however, that these cancer victims are themselves victims of a ring of criminals, who manipulate them using their ill health and physical appearance to defraud them and the unsuspecting members of the public.

Due to the status, size and population of Lagos, the over 20 million commercial nerve center of Nigeria have experienced a greater share of cancer scams.

Three years ago, the Lagos government began the clamp down in order to rid ugly situation that has become obscene scenes and social scourge to the environment. During the massive action many fake cancer sufferers were arrested with their accomplices.

The action led to many of them retreating to their dens and only a pocket now parades the Lagos roads.

However, these scammers have invented a new approach by using the internet through social media to scam even more people.

DEBBIE OSARERE’S CASE

On May 5, 2022, a certain Dorcas Ogbeide shared a post in a Facebook Group; Nadia Buhari Fans, of two facing pictures of a young lady on hospital bed with the chest area wrapped in bandage. In the post with a bold inscription ‘A CRY FROM THE DEATH BED, a man claiming to be the sick lady’s husband said her wife; Mrs Promise Amesi is down with cancer and has been on 24/7 life support. He said the family urgently needed a sum of N850, 000 to save her life.

He added that Mrs Amesi has been on drips and oxygen for two months and that her family has spent all they have on the ailment to keep her alive.

Mr. Amesi said: “It has not been easy buying oxygen because she can’t breathe, and the doctor said she needed an amount which cost about #850,000 for her medical treatment.”

Below is the link to the distressed call: https://www.facebook.com/groups/nadiabuarifans/permalink/685851522503390/?app=fbl,

On the same day, Ogbeide shared the same post on four other Facebook Groups namely, Official Gucci Fans; https://www.facebook.com/groups/162834709328304/permalink/313590300919410/?app=fbl, Oyerepa Family; https://www.facebook.com/groups/437512891314939/permalink/548216756911218/?app=fbl, TB Joshua official; https://www.facebook.com/groups/209157440972596/permalink/441689501052721/?app=fbl, and Young Elders GCFR Comedy Fans; https://www.facebook.com/groups/192703632435378/permalink/406647587707647/?app=fbl, making the post go viral.

About a week before that, on April 29, 2022, Josky Akpan had shared same SOS message on Facebook with the same pictures accompanying the plea for financial assistance from the public, but it was Ogbeide that ensured that the post burst the social with her multiple sharing on the Group accounts she belonged to.

At the bottom part of the message a bank account belonging to Promise Amesi was printed for whoever wants to send money to her to pay for medical upkeep and save her from the life threatening condition.

VERDICT

Investigation carried out by this reporter with the aid of fact-checking tools, however, revealed that the above claims are false.

Using Tin Eye image search, this reporter is able to establish that, though the cancer patient and aliment were real, her name and bank account were manipulated with the aim to fleece unsuspecting public of their monies.

The said cancer patient is not Promise Amesi but Debbie Osarere, and the picture was first found on June 30, 2015 on the internet. The link below: tag/health/page/6/ -2013/10/photos-cancer-patient-debbie-osareres/-FirstfoundonJune30,2015, emerged on the reverse image search engine.

It points to the fact that the scammer used a fake name and fake bank account with the intention to dupe innocent people.

With the name this reporter dug further using Google Search to reveal the true story and more evidence that it was all disinformation backed up with misleading information with the intention to scam readers.

TRUE STORY

This is the true story. The lady’s full name was Debbie Idiagbonya Osarere, a cancer awareness campaigner that succumbed to breast cancer in 2016.

Her cancer case was widely reported by the media and Osarere became a social media sensation at the point with notable Nigeria online media like dailypost.ng, kemifilani.ng, thewillnigeria.com, aproko247.com, nairaland.com, and lindaikejisblog.com feasting on the human angle story.

On April 26, 2012, www.dailypost.ng published the story of her cancer diagnoses in which she was soliciting for financial help to the tune of N6million from well-meaning people. Dailypost.ng in the online publication posted her account details and contact details for potential donors. Below is the link to the story. “Be a Good Samaritan: Help save Debbie Osarere from breast cancer – Daily Post Nigeria” https://dailypost.ng/2012/08/26/be-good-samaritan-help-save-debbie-osarere-breast-cancer/?amp=1.

In the same vein, nairaland.ng and lindaikejisblog.com followed with other news stories on Debbie’s battle against cancer.

The pictures that circulated in 2022 and were portrayed as fresh by scammers first emerged in 2012 and were published by the online platforms and on social media to amplify her story.

For four years this went on until 2016, when she, eventually, lost the battle. The same cancer she tried to create awareness for undid her. Her demise, like her survival battle, attracted both online and social media.

Lindaikejisblog.com reported her death with this link; https://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2016/04/cancer-patient-debbie-osarere.html, while thewillnigeria.com and kemifilani.ng reported it respectively with their links below; https://thewillnigeria.com/news/brest-cancer-survivor-debbie-osarere-loses-battle-to-skull-cancer/ and https://www.kemifilani.ng/news/so-sad-cancer-patient-debbie-idiagbonya/amp.

Six years later, Debbie’s pictures and story were ‘resurrected’ by scammers. She was renamed, given a new bank account to match the fake name and circulated on social media with nefarious intention to defraud.

Their scheme worked perfectly. The link was shared multiple times by some unsuspecting public to spiral it.

This could be established from the Ogbeides and Joskys that share the post multiple times.

Nonetheless, Debbie’s is only one of such cases that have rebounded down the years to defraud.

HUBERT IKOI NKANU

Fact-checking online platform, Dubawa, recorded a near-similar case of Miss Hubert Ikoi Nkanu that hit the cyber space in 2018.

The difference is that Miss Nkanu is alive to tell the story.

Information about her condition was shared on the internet in 2018.

She was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma with metastasis to the lungs, better known as Wilms’ tumor, a rare kidney cancer that primarily affects children aged 2 to 5. It occurs mostly in one kidney, but can sometimes be found in both kidneys at the same time.

According to her father, Nkanu Okoi,the Calabar- Cross River State based, ailment started from the abdomen, which was growing unusually bigger, sometime in 2017.

“We observed that her stomach started growing big and she was also losing weight,” her father recalled.

“It made us very worried, so later we took her for a scan at Asi Ukpo Diagnostics to find out what was wrong.

She was referred to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, where doctors prescribed surgery and 21 weeks of chemotherapy, which was pegged at N900,000.

“We spent all our money, borrowed money, and even had to sell my bank shares to get money, but it was not enough. So we started looking for help,” Nkanu said.

The family was advised to reach out to the public for help and so they made videos and pictures of their ailing daughter and the medical report, which were circulated on news websites and social media, soliciting donations from members of the public.

Soon, donations started coming in and a total sum of N800,000 was realized out of which the medical bill was met and a sum of N75,000 remitted to the family.

He said his daughter’s case got the attention of the doctors at the UCTH Doctors’ Welfare unit, who facilitated her treatment, surgery and chemotherapy, free of charge.

He confirmed that Hubert recovered after the surgery and had since started school.

“We spent six months at UCTH for the surgery and treatment, after which my daughter recovered. This happened three years ago. She has been attending school. I was surprised when I saw those old photos and videos online again with posts asking for money,” he said.

Like what scammers did with Debbie’s picture and name, they rechristened Hubert Okoi Nkanu, Beatrice Alimi with matching bank accounts.

Thinking that the case was done, dusted and forgotten, in 2021, three years later, pictures and videos of Hubert before her treatment resurfaced on the internet, but with a different name and a different bank account details in posts seeking financial donations for her surgery and medical treatments.

The posts were widely shared by many social media users, bloggers and influencers, including ex-Big Brother Nigeria housemate, Ike Onyema.

PRAISE OLUWADAMILOLA OLUGOLA

The case of Miss Praise Oluwadamilola Olugola,17, was even more dramatic.

She was given more than one name and scammers almost denied her a cure as genuine helpers were scared off as a result of multiple identities.

Praise was preparing for the school leaving certificate examination when she developed an ailment known as sinonasal tumor which affected her eyes.

Unfortunately, in the family’s move to get funds for medication, 17-year-old Praise became a subject of scam.

Her father, Pastor Olugbenga Daniel Olugola, said the family had spent over N5million on her healing before turning to the public through social media.

He said her daughter was in constant pain daily as her left eye was already affected propelling them to go to the public for assistance.

The call paid off and she was able to undergo the first stage of the required surgery at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, courtesy of several donors who took interest in her plight.

While the donation was ongoing, however, some people unrelated to the family created fake social media accounts with the pictures of the girl but different names and account numbers to be credited for support. This move really foiled Praise’s further treatments, as some funds could have been diverted into fake bank accounts.

According to Dubawa, scammers have also been posting her photos and attaching fake names and no fewer than 20 posts have emanated from scammers to defraud.

Some of the posts faked her as Kehinde Adewale while others use Adekunle Mary Abosede, Rebecca Olamiposi and Elizabeth Damisa.

Mr. Olugola revealed that Praise has undergone successful chemotherapies and is now in better health, unlike what the scammers portray.

MODUS OPERANDI

In order to spread their scams quickly and to more people, The Nation’s investigation revealed that they make use of notable social media forums like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Messenger, and instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, and Telegram. Their main targets are groups belonging to influencers and public figures, where many people can be reached.

They also use pictures to their best advantage. It doesn’t matter how gory it looks, as far as it arrests people’s attention and pity.

Some of the social media accounts are new and freshly made but innocent public do not bother to examine this and the fact that they don’t have many followers.

They are hoodwinked by the pathetic condition of the sufferers to act with compassion. They also change the real name of sufferers, which they use to open new bank accounts where the fleeced donations are deposited.

Fact-checker Allan Cheboi, said while cyber scammers still find a way to get into cyber space, news organisations need to take fact-checking more seriously. “It is up to media houses be it online or traditional ones to create fact-check desks in newsrooms whose main job is to investigate suspected information and debunk it immediately. It will enable the public to know fake news, misinformation and disinformation. It will reduce incidences of scam posts.” (The Nation)

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