OLX Expresses Worry over Theft of Three Siblings

 

Country Manager, OLX Nigeria, Lola Masha, has broken her silence on the recent theft of three siblings by a nanny who was employed by their mother through the platform of OLX Nigeria.

The children are six years, four years and eleven months old. Masha, who expressed deep concern about the unfortunate incident, said she was particularly worried that the transaction that got the dubious nanny employed was brokered on the OLX Nigeria platform.

She insisted that the online platform for eCommerce business is still the best for Nigeria irrespective of what had happened. "The online transaction between the two women could happen in any other situation and on any online platforms. It is not peculiar to OLX at all and it is something that happens everyday in our society," Masha told THISDAY.

She however said the entire staff of OLX Nigeria sympathise with the woman whose three children were stolen by the nanny who was employed through the OLX, adding that OLX Nigeria would continue to preach security and safety of its customers, to enable them become more conscious while transacting online.

"To protect our customers, we have put several measures in place, to ensure such incidence does not repeat itself. We also have on our website, specific guidelines on how to transact safely online. We strongly advise users of our platform to follow the guidelines strictly in order to remain safe anytime they are transacting business online. They must also ensure that they do all the relevant background checks of persons that they are dealing with online, and also make sure they check the items they intend to buy before paying for the goods," Masha said.

We know we are not perfect but we are doing everything we can to ensure safety of the users of our platform. We also advise them to report any suspicious activities on the site to enable us take prompt action, she added.

A career woman based in Surulere, Lagos needed a house help and uploaded the information on the OLX platform where sellers and buyers meet to do free online transactions of goods and services. Unknown to her, a woman who may have been trading on children, accepted to woasa of her and the deal was transacted and concluded online on the OLX platform.

The evil nanny eventually resumed work without the mother of the stolen children making proper background checks on her. Few days after, the nanny absconded with the three children and is now demanding for N13 million ransome.

This is the second time such unfortunate incident is happening from the OLX platform, the first was in December 2014, where a nanny who was employed through the platform of OLX Nigeria, ran away with the employer's child, but was later apprehended.

Reacting to the unfortunate situations, an online expert, Mr. Femi Adeola said OLX needed not to be blamed for providing a platform where millions of people meet online to transact businesses that have become profitable to them in several ways. He called on Nigerians who are involved in online trading to be very cautious while trading and must ensure they carry security checks on anyone they are dealing with online, especially those looking for domestic staff online.

SOURCE:THISDAY