Nigerian man shares encounter he and his wife had after visiting a UK Apple store with ‘stolen’ iphone bought in Nigeria

A Nigerian man , Gbenga Samuel-Wemimo, has recounted a terrifying incident he and his wife experienced inside an Apple store in the UK recently.

According to him, he and his wife had visited an Apple Store while in the UK, to trade the Iphone she bought in Nigeria for a new one.

He said they were shocked when the attendant told them the phone they brought had been declared stolen.

The man said they were startled by the comment and insisted to see the store manager. He said they were later informed that the phone had been declared ‘’missing” and not stolen.

Gbenga said it was sheer luck they were not arrested over the incident.

An X user left a comment explaining what might have happened. The X user said some Nigerians have formed the habit of buying items such as phones abroad, bring it to Nigeria to sell and then return to the foreign country to declare the item missing so their insurance can get them another one.

‘’My wife bought a brand new iPhone at the Apple store located at Jakande, Lekki Phase 1,Lagos last September.

We decided to trade it in for a new one today at the Apple Store located at Westfield Stratford City Arcade (London) a few minutes ago

Only God did not let them call the police on us

The attendant scanned the IPhone and declared that it had been reported as stolen.

Stolen from where?

It was not a used iPhone

It was new, purchased from an approved Apple Store and we have all the receipts intact

The attendant saw our indignation and went ahead to consult with her superiors

They scanned again and they declared that it was reported “missing”.

They adjusted their language from stolen to missing and told us it has zero swap value.

I was not shocked at all even though I should be.

Nigerians like cutting corners for unhealthy gains and they always believe this is good business for them as long as they were able to make a buck.

Somehow we were able to walk out of that Apple Store without any drama but I remember telling my wife that we would have had a lot of explaining to do if they had a policy that required that they must report such incidents to the police.

Nigerian business people must try to do better than this

There is something called integrity, it has a higher value than the dirty gains they think they are getting by playing dirty.

I have always insisted on buying things in Nigeria because it helps the economy but I can see the reason many prefer to shop abroad.

We must do better than this as a people.”