PATRICIA IS A SCAM:- A Modern Day Online Scammer/Swindlers In Well Packaged Attire

Posted by E.L.E.X on August 25 2020 under Tech/Cybersecurity

This is a serious Scam Alert!!!

A Nigerian who goes by the name Paul Udochukwu shares his horrible experience transacting with Patricia

Read along

My personal encounter with Patricia.

Having heard some of my favorite social media comedians advertise them on their comedy skit, I had them on my list of possible legit but the on-going Big Brother Naija reality show cemented my trust in them.

And that was how I signed up on their platform. I downloaded their app from the play store and provided the necessary details required.

Fast-ward to Saturday 22nd August 2020. I fell prey to one of the most goofily orchestrated scams of modern-day online business transacting.

My happenstance.

I transacted on the Patricia app platform to redeem a $100 Amazon gift card. I sent them a copy of the card and its receipt by 5:08am that Saturday morning.

I chose the cash receipt option. After getting notification of a successful transaction, (which I felt was the prove that the whole process of transacting was over).

I went on to my transaction history to monitor the progress of the transaction. It displayed PENDING as the transaction status, within a short time span it changed to PROCESSING and finally it read DECLINED.

I subsequently got an email which read;

I was calm and unsuspecting at initial because I felt it was quite early in the morning and again I assumed they transacted only on weekdays.

I made some inquiries later during the day and was assured they transacted on Saturdays too.

Once more I tried again, this time choosing the E-code (no receipt) option around 12:04pm that same Saturday, only to be notified ASAP via my transaction status which read DECLINED.

I was subsequently notified via email.

I was agitated at this point. Furious and mad at what I just witnessed.

And this was how I started digging to expose the dubious and pernicious Patricia platform.

The Reviews on Google Play Store Are Horrible

Firstly, I went to Google play store to examine people’s reviews, only to find cases similar to mine. And this gave me the conviction that this was not an error but a deliberate act.

I Called Their Customer Care

Though there are a handful of other negative reviews about this platform, I simply chose the issues similar to mine.

Later that evening I called their customer care line. Having finished recounting my ordeal, she told me to contact the person who bought me the card and the subsequent blah blah blah…

Similarly, the others having my kind of problem were told the same thing.

After all my discoveries, I asked myself two striking questions.

Why would a self-acclaimed credible platform like Patricia allow customers to send in sensitive details like scratched gift cards for processing when they have no side-by buyer ( or what the chose to present as “we do not have an active trade for this card at the moment”).

Why did it take 21 minutes to process the card at my first trial (from 5:08 – 5:29am) and 15 minutes to process the card on second trial (from 12:04 – 12:19)… My guess is you guys were taking your time redeeming my gift card for yourselves..

Conclusion

Please and please, to be fore-warned is to be fore-armed, I strictly advise anyone wanting to do gift card transactions to avoid using the Patricia platform.

Yes, some have successfully transacted on this platform but that doesn’t take away the fact that they deliberately scam unsuspecting individuals.

Forget their quite presentable adverts and whoever they use as brand ambassador, I fell for it and got scammed. Be wise.