Placido Hilukilwa
THE danger of befriending and then trusting strangers on social media was in full display when a nurse from the Oshikoto Region was robbed in the Ohangwena Region where she went to meet her new Facebook friend on Monday evening.
It is alleged that a 27-year-old female nurse, who is based at Omuthiya, befriended someone on Facebook and agreed to travel to meet him at Endola.
However, when she reached Endola at around 22:00, she was met and picked up by two young men who identified themselves as emissaries of her Facebook boyfriend. It was only a matter of a few minutes before they revealed their true intentions.
Andrew Nghiyolwa, Nampol’s community affairs officer in the Ohangwena Region, confirmed the incident. He said that the suspects stopped in the bushes, threatened the victim with knives, and demanded money. “They ultimately coerced her to contact her relatives to redeem her by sending money,” he said.
When the first amount of N$1,000 was sent, the suspects allegedly refused to let her go, saying the money was not enough. The victim was only released when another amount of N$2,000 was sent, but not before the suspects appropriated her cellphone valued at N$14,000.
Nghiyolwa has a word of warning, mostly to young people: “Not everyone you meet on social media is upright,” he said. “Some people pretend to be honourable, handsome, wealthy, well-educated, etc., but their intentions are evil. They post pictures of people supposed to be themselves standing near nice cars and beautiful houses in the background in an attempt to trap unsuspecting victims,” he said.
A case of robbery was registered, but no arrest has been made yet.
