A special report by SaharaReporters has actually uncovered how David Namstav Shirsha, a previous Supervisory Councillor in the Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State, defrauded widows and youths in the community, using an online networking business, ‘Covis Club International’.

David was said to have asked females and youths in the community to invest their money in the online networking service of the organisation with the guarantee that they will make earnings on a monthly basis, to be figured out by their investment capital.

SaharaReporters collected that about 35 individuals were impacted.

It was discovered that a few of the financiers registered with N50,000 with a promise that they would get N10,000 as profit every month. Some others were said to have actually lost as much as N3 million to N5 million.

The victims consist of widows and youths, who were invested in the scheme to make ends meet.

One of the victims, Agena Robert Ande who comes from the Ushongo Local Government Area of Benue State, was defrauded of the sum of N500,000 after being welcomed by David to a Covis Club International conference held at Midland Plaza, Mararaba in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Ande stated he lost interest upon understanding that it was a networking business however David insisted that he should purchase it, assuring to make him among the recipients of 3 Hyundai vehicles to be given out.

According to Ande, he was introduced to business on March 30, 2021 when David came to his house alongside one of his sweethearts, Emmanuella Akperan, to explain the process to him.

He was informed that if he could encourage his family and friends members to join the business, his earnings and turnover would increase. He said he initially and informed them that he was not interested in networking organization.

Ande said, “He (David) explained and introduced the company to me how it works and he insisted that I need to sign up with and commit my good friends and relative too, that the gains and turnover would be greater. I rebuked him and told him in clear terms that I could refrain from doing an online networking organization.

“He then said I need to lend him the amount of N500,000 to open another account with Covis Club under his team of pyramid/department called the ELITES, to allow the club see reasons to hasten the provision of 3 Hyundai cars they were expecting in 3 months’ time.

“He assured that I was going to benefit directly from one of the vehicles thus the account he was creating with my money was going to be the greatest paid and qualified up until now.

“I informed him I would have absolutely nothing to do with an online business of this nature. I would send the sum of N500,000 straight to his account based on the reality that he was a Supervisory Councillor in my local government during the tenure of Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State.”

Findings exposed that David moved from the community and vanished into the thin air quickly after the sum of N500,000 was moved into his account.

His cellphone could not be reached and all efforts to locate him shown useless.

It was likewise learnt that he printed leaflets various from the official leaflets of the business, which he was utilizing to manipulate his unwary victims to sign up and invest in the plan.

He was also able to win the trust of lots of people due to the fact that of his daddy, who is stated to be a significant politician in the area.

Another victim, Fidel Imyon who lost N55,000 said he was guaranteed returns on what he thought was a financial investment.

Imyon said, “I was told that registration for the second stage for me to start earning revenues is N55,000. I did it and I was expecting my payment at the end of the month however I did not get any payment. I called them and they stated I ought to be patient.

“One day I got N10,000 and after one month I called them once again however they did not address again.”

The fraud has actually left many individuals in Gboko and Ushongo in a state of misery as the chances of getting their money refunded are slim.

The victims stated they have actually formally reported the matter at the police headquarters in the area however that there has been no significant development on the case so far.

ToriNG