What are the red flags before you pay?
Most online scams in Nigeria look the same in the minutes before the money leaves your account. The seller rushes you, the price is unbelievable, and the "proof" is a photo anyone could pull off Google. If you spot two or more of these, close the chat.
None of these alone proves a scam. Real sellers sometimes have new pages, and some genuine deals are cheap. But scammers rely on you ignoring the pattern. The more boxes a seller ticks, the faster you should walk.
- Transfer-only pressure: "pay now before someone else picks it" is a script, not urgency. A real seller with a real item can wait an hour.
- A price far below market: a phone at half of what every shop in Computer Village charges is bait, not a bargain. Nobody sells at a loss to strangers.
- Stolen or stock photos: crisp studio shots, watermarks from another page, or images that turn up in a reverse image search on other accounts.
- A brand-new page: created weeks ago, few posts, comments turned off, or a follower count that doesn't match the engagement.
- Refusing live proof: any excuse ("my camera is bad", "I already posted pictures") when you ask for a fresh photo or video of the actual item.
- No escrow, ever: a seller who rejects any arrangement where the money is held until you confirm delivery is telling you what they plan to do with your transfer.
- Payment to a mismatched name: the account name doesn't match the business name or the person you've been chatting with.
- Rushing you off the record: pushing you from public comments to a "private" number, then asking you to delete or ignore the earlier trail.
What are the green flags of a seller you can trust more?
Good sellers behave in a way scammers can't fake cheaply: they let the deal happen slowly, in the open, on the record. When you ask the awkward questions, like live proof, escrow, last price in writing, a genuine seller answers them; a scammer gets defensive or disappears.
This is the logic behind how Loota structures a deal. Sellers send real offers with price, condition and proof; when you pick one, everything moves into a protected deal room where the chat, the proof, the payment and the deal record stay together in one place. A seller comfortable with that setup has nothing to hide.
- Agrees to live proof without drama: fresh photos or a quick video of the actual item, shot on the spot.
- Happy to use escrow, especially on expensive items. Escrow protects them too: the money is already held before they ship.
- Verified business: on Loota, sellers can complete business verification and carry a Verified badge on their storefront.
- Keeps the deal on record in one place instead of scattering it across DMs, calls and voice notes.
- Clear about price and condition upfront, states "UK used, small scratch on the back" before you ask, not after you pay.
- Consistent history: the same products, the same name, the same account, over time.
How do you check that product photos are real?
Never pay based on posted pictures alone. Stolen photos are the cheapest tool a scammer has. Ask for proof that could only have been made right now: a short video of the phone powering on, the laptop with your name written on paper beside it, the generator running. Be specific about what you want to see, because specificity is what old photos can't deliver.
Then reverse-image-search the posted photos. If the same "UK used iPhone" appears on three other pages or a stock site, you have your answer. A genuine seller is not offended by any of this, they're holding the item, so proving it takes them two minutes.
On risky items, Loota does this for you: sellers must pass camera-only live proof, meaning fresh photos or video shot on the spot. Old pictures and stock photos don't pass.
When should you insist on escrow?
Insist on escrow whenever the amount would hurt to lose, and always on the categories that get faked the most: phones, laptops, consoles and generators. Escrow flips the transfer-before-delivery problem: instead of trusting the seller with your money, a neutral service holds it, and the seller only gets paid after you confirm you received the item.
On Loota, escrow is required on those commonly faked categories and optional on everything else. Either side can ask for it, and a serious seller often will, since the buyer's money is already held before they ship. The only fee on Loota is a small protection fee when a deal uses escrow, split 40% buyer and 60% seller; searching and receiving offers are free.
Be honest with yourself about what escrow does: it reduces risk, it doesn't abolish it. You still need to inspect the item properly before you confirm; that confirmation is what releases the money.
What should you do if you already got scammed?
Move fast and keep everything. The first hours matter most for your bank, and the evidence you keep is what makes any report useful.
One more warning: anyone who DMs you promising to "recover" your money for a fee is running the second half of the same scam. No legitimate recovery service hunts victims in comment sections.
- Report it at loota.site/report. It takes scam reports from any platform (WhatsApp, Instagram, X, TikTok, anywhere), and every report gets a human review.
- Contact your bank immediately and flag the transfer. Ask what options exist; the earlier you call, the more they may be able to do.
- Report the account on the platform where it happened so it gets harder for them to hit the next person.
- Keep every piece of evidence: the chat, the account number you paid, the transfer receipt, the page link and screenshots of the listing.
- Warn your circle: scammers recycle the same page, number and script on people near you.
- Do not pay anyone who promises to recover the money for an upfront fee.
