nstead of going through the tedious process of buying wares in physical stores, Nigerian women are embracing the trend of online shopping. But a popular Instagram hair vendor, Nwanneka Dorcas Nkumah, CEO Mizwanneka hair @mizwanneka, has mastered the art of false representation to deprive the people their wants – a common experience of ‘what I ordered’ versus ‘what I got’. Following multiple evidence of extortion, blatant harassment and deceit, FIJ established her a similar pattern of malfeasance, as reported by KOLAJO ONASOGA.
For Stella Okoye, it was the online advert of an alluring hair quality that first caught her fancy. As a growing entrepreneur in the city of Port Harcourt in Rivers State, she borrowed funds to the tune of N528,800 to buy and resell bulks of weave-on, popularly known as human hair, with the hope of making moderate profit in a short time. But she was hit by disappointment.
“I stumbled on her page and saw a 30 under 30 promo advert. The hair she put up looked quality and nice, so I placed an order anticipating the delivery of the hair,” she tells FIJ.
“I in fact had customers who booked the hair down after I showed them pictures, with the mindset that what was in the picture was what I would get.”
She made the order for 18 pieces of hair, which cost N520,800, and was scheduled to get her procured goods in the middle of October 2020, 20 days apart. When Stella checked in with the store to enquire about the reason for the failed delivery, she was persuaded to wait a little longer.
THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD
November was here and Stella was still yet to get the hair delivered. Each time she called, the customer care service told her to give them time because her hair wasn’t available. During the waiting period, Mizwanneka engaged in several other promos where she advertised the same pieces of hair Stella was waiting to get for resell.
When her calls became incessant, the customer care stopped picking up. Stella sent Mizwanneka personal messages, commented on all her posts, begging her to deliver the hair, and even contacted friends of Mizwanneka, yet no delivery was made.
Four months after numerous calls and messages, nine out of the 18 pieces of hair she ordered were finally delivered. On opening the packets of hair, she realised not only was the hair incomplete, that none of the hair delivered matched what she had ordered.
She got a mail from Mizwanneka’s team in the third week of January 2021 telling her to pick new hair from the promo they were set to do in February to make up for her remaining eight packets of hair, as the hair she ordered was no longer available.
“To be very honest I wished I knew she was incompetent before I placed my order; she is such an arrogant being,” Okoye says.
“The hair that was given to me was so low in quality; nothing like what I ordered, different colors, different lengths. I am just hoping the second delivery won’t take forever. I have left her case to God; My God would judge her.”
‘KAYAN MATA AT WORK’
Grace (*not real name), another victim, claims Mizwanneka uses charms to lure the public to buy her hair, more reason her customers only realize her scam after payment has been made.
She revealed to FIJ that during the time she waited to get her hair of N121,500 delivered, she became suspicious of Mizwanneka’s ways, leading to her investigation.
She claimed Mizwanneka uses the popular Miwa’s Signatures business boom oil known, as Kayan Mata. Kayan mata are herbal aphrodisiacs taken by women to enhance pleasure in sexual intercourse. In recent times, it has been used in a traditional juju-like manner. Grace claimed she was sure Mizwanneka uses Miwa’s Kayan Mata product to boost her business and attract several customers from all over the world.
Grace placed her order four months ago but is yet to get niether the hair nor her money back. She explained that there was nothing she did not do in order to get the hair delivered.
EVEN HER CELEBRITY FRIENDS CANNOT HELP
“Is it carrying soldiers to her store at Lekki, or sending her celebrity friends to help beg her, or commenting under every Instagram post she made, or sending personal messages to her? Name it, I did everything if not even more, yet I haven’t gotten my hair or my money back because of a ‘no refund’ policy she made to suit her trend of scamming people,” Grace says.
“I am tired of all this back and forth, all I want is my money. I do not even want her hair again since a lot of people are saying it is fake. Myself and a numerous number of women who fell victim of her scam are charging her to a class action in court.”
MULTIPLE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS OPENED TO GIVE FALSE PRAISE
An independent investigation carried out revealed that the majority of the people who always made comments under Mizwanneka’s page were either women who worked for her or people she paid to open numerous accounts in order to shout praises of her authenticity to the public.
Those sets of individuals constitute Mizwanneka’s warriors who threaten any customer that tries to call the CEO or the brand out.
“There was no day that went by that I did not receive life threats from Mizwanneka’s warriors,” Tolani (not real name) says. “Those comments you see under Mizwanneka’s page praising her and confirming the authenticity of her hair are all fake.”
It’s been five months and counting since Tolani Benson ordered three packets of hair for the sum of N99,500 and hasn’t still received it till date. She described Mizwanneka as “a big scam and a treacherous person who defrauds people of their hand-earned money”.
HIGH-QUALITY HAIR FOR CELEBS, SUBSTANDARD HAIR FOR OTHERS
Tolulope (not real name), the face behind the popular Instagram account @Mizwanneka_scam, told FIJ that she created the page not just to discredit Mizwanneka’s business, but also to save the public from ending up in her own shoes. Tolulope purchased three packets of hair for the sum of N154,500, and after months of delay in delivery, she got a totally different hair from what she had ordered.
“You know what Mizwanneka does? She sells her quality hairs to celebrities and influencers because they pay whooping sum of money for the hair and also to preserve the connection she’s getting from them,” she says.
But you see the ordinaries like us that partook of her bonanza sale, we are the victims of her scam. She would post very good quality hair for a very affordable price, saying it’s her bonanza sale, but deliver a very low-quality hair to them and say ‘so you think you can buy that kind of hair for the price you paid? This is what your money can afford, so manage it like that.’”
She explained that she was harassed by Mizwanneka when she confronted her about the delivery of her hair.
“We already have a legal battle pending in court,” she said. “Let’s see how it goes, because she has to pay for her deeds.”
NO HAIR AFTER PAYMENT — SINCE OCTOBER 2020
Chimamanda Fortune, an anatomist who resides in the North, recounted that she made an order and paid for hair from Mizwanneka since October and up till date she has not gotten any response from her or the team.
“If not that I stay in the North, I would have stormed her store to get my hair from her,” she said.
“Can you believe I ordered mine since October, I even paid for the waybill fees. After I made the payment I did not get any response from them. If after the end of February, she doesn’t deliver my hair, I will come down to Lagos to collect it by force by fire.”
MIZWANNEKA DEFENDS HERSELF
When FIJ reached out to Doris Nkumah Wanneka, the CEO of Mizwanneka hair, for comments, she denied all allegations against her, saying if she was a scam, she would not be celebrating her eighth year in the business in a few months.
She did not deny the allegations of delay in delivery or people getting something entirely different from what they ordered. Instead, she said in business, it is normal for customers to experience delay in delivery because of how many people are ordering at once.
“If they want to take that personal, that’s up to them,” she maintains.
Source: Foundation for Investigative Journalism