I ran into my room, sat on the naked mattress - I didn’t even bother laying a sheet on - sitting on the foam that was flat on the ground, drew the low stool and started to write. Where would I begin? How do I write a story of what happened when I’d completely lost my mind. Yeah, that was it - there was no way to explain that I had completely lost it. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be in this fucking mess.

   I should probably begin with an introduction, tell you my name before getting into the story. I don’t need to, just call me pathetic or stupid or an idiot because that is what I am. 

   It all began on the twenty-first of august—okay that’s not true, I just mentioned a random date that came to mind, I don’t actually recall what I would call my doomsday.

It was a bright sunny day. Was it? I guess so. Anyway, I was surfing through Playstore, looking for a particular app, what app it was, I don’t remember. Yeah, I’m a dumbass. It doesn’t matter, though, because I stumble across something else entirely. An investment app, Fortune retail. This all had about four point four stars, well, at the time. It was an investment app - an investment in vending machines-in which you deposited a certain amount of money, you keep it there for a required amount of time, then you can withdraw your money and of course profit. If you are familiar with investment, I’m sure you know the drill. Anyway, I checked out the review - wanted to know what others thought of it- over a hundred reviews, and I would say more than seventy percent were positive. Seem legit to me, so I downloaded the app.

   I started the investmentwith the lowest amount in the app five hundred (I was testing waters), I was to receive five hundred and ninety in three days. Ninety was the profit, so I was to receive thirty every day. It wasn’t a lot, but it was something, so I went with it.

  I logged into the app every day, to check, to see if they had run with my money. They hadn’t - they didn’t and at the end of day three, I received and was able to withdraw my money.

 I was impressed but still skeptical, so I tried again, this time with the next lowest amount, a thousand and five hundred. I was to receive four hundred and twenty after seven days.

  I signed in every single day throughout out the seven days, to check, to see if my money was still there. It was. After the seventh day, I received and withdrew my money.

  After this successful withdrawals, I started to do some thinking, I had about two hundred thousand meant for school just sitting idly in my account (idly was really what I thought). School was currently on strike, and there was no telling how long it would take before they called it off and resume. It’d been six months now, and there were still no signs of the federal government accepting the students association’s demand. 

   So, I decided to invest forty thousand. I was to receive the profit of two hundred and twenty-five thousand after a month. I logged in every day. First day, second, third, fourth.. It was still there. After a week, I signed in as usual, and I was met with a new deal. A buy one, get one promo to celebrate their fifth month anniversary. The sweetest part is receiving my profit in just a week (bye bye tolong wait). I was enticed, so I decided to invest seventy thousand (I wasn’t as skeptical as before). And so, I deposited, but it didn’t reflect in the app. I started to shake with anxiety, I quickly jump straight into their customers service DM. There was no answer, wasn’t online.

    I felt time was ticking, I wanted to get the deal before it was over, so I tried depositing another seventy thousand. Again, it didn’t reflect. Oh, God!! I started to shake with fear, what if they disappeared with my money. My mind started to clear and the reality of what I had just done sunk in. I had a pending one hundred and forty thousand plus the forty thousand I had in the app. That exceeded eighty percent of my money for school. I started to pray, this better be all real. I checked the time, it was around ten to eleven pm, still no reply from customers service. Still shaking, I went to sleep.

   When I woke up the next day, I went straight to the app, my forty thousand was still there but the one hundred and forty thousand had still not been added. I went to my WhatsApp to check with customers service. I had a message from them, I was given some instructions which I followed and voilà! The money was right there in the app, I was so thankful. I hurriedly invested (the promo was still on). So now I had invested one hundred and eighty thousand, and I was to get a return of more than six hundred thousand. I was elated at the figure. I had plans of what I was going to do with the money; business and agriculture. I couldn’t stop dreaming

   I checked in on the app every day, until finally theseventh day. Furthermore, I received first the one hundred and forty thousand I invested with, then the two hundred and ninety thousand profits. All I had to do now was to withdraw the money. I withdraw two hundred thousand first, which was going to be my money for school. Throughout the day, I waited and waited, but received no credit alert. I was calm, since it was a lot of money, it might take quite some time. I remained patient until it was nighttime, then I started to worry. I went to customers service DM to report this issue, I was told to remain patient, that the problem was from my bank.

  Then I remembered that the highest amount I could receive with my bank account was just fifty thousand. I calmed a little at that. Up to four hours later, when I checked into the app, the money had been reversed. I had to wait until the next day before trying again (I could only withdraw once a day from the app), now I know not to withdraw more than fifty thousand.

  That day I told my brother everything, about the app and my investment. He was really pissed I thought such a huge step without telling anyone, only calmed when I showed him I was withdrawing. I gave five thousand from the twenty thousand I had left in my account to my brother and told him to invest. I gave my sister the same amount since I had an incoming two hundred.

    The next day, I tried again. I waited and waited, again no credit alert. I started to get anxious. Throughout the day, I was in edge waiting for that notification sound that was for credit alert, but nothing. Almost a day later, I went back into app and themoney had been reversed again with a message this time that said: “Wrong bank information, please modify.” I was dumbfounded, wrong bank information for the same account I have withdrew to twice! No way! So I went straight to the customer service department, leaving a message for them to do something. No reply. I had to wait for the next day to try again. I went to sleep.

   The next day, I woke up early, so early I had to wait on the withdrawal time (9am to 6pm). As soon as it was 9pm, I was opening the app, about to withdraw. Only there’s a problem, the app isn’t working. A message kept popping up as soon as you click on the app: “Couldn’t connect to the server, please try again later.” I thought this was because I didn’t have sufficient data to power the app. So I quickly subscribed to a seven-day plan.

  And then I was trying again, still it didn’t go through. I was drenched in cold sweat, God what was happening? I went back to customers service left a series of messages. No response. Beside me, my brother was also trying to get into the app as he’d invested five hundred too. We tried and tried but.. Nothing. I even tried logging in through their website, it wasn’t going through.

   I started to lose hope, I definitely thought that was the end, but my brother kept assuring me that they would be back. I kept trying and trying till midnight and it opened. I was a little relieved but I couldn’t withdraw, it wasn’t yet withdraw time. I went to sleep.

   I tried opening the app the next day, but it didn’t work. Same message as the previous day. I decided to wait till midnight, still it didn’t open. I’dtotally lost all my cool, I was all jittery. 

   The app didn’t work the next day, not the day after, nor the next.

   I had lost hope until that morning, I think it’s been six days since the app last opened, when I went to my WhatsApp and I had a message from customers service. Apparently, the application had been down because they were hacked by criminals. They sent a link which I was to click on, copy the (my)IP address on the site I’d be directed to, sent it back to them, and then wait for an hour before attempting to log in to the app.

   Hope surged through me. After more than an hour required, I logged in and it worked. My brother was able to log in too (even without doing what I did). Both of us immediately withdrew when we were back in the app. I, fifty thousand and he, five hundred and ninety.

  By midnight, he had his money in the bank. The next day, when I went into the app, sure enough, my money had been reversed. A different message this time said: “As a result of the recent hack, the bank had lost records and I had to make a deposit, so they could connect the account I’d paid with and then I could withdraw successfully.”

   I was willing to connect my account, so I went to make a deposit. Only I couldn’t deposit less than ten thousand. I was mortified, the minimum deposit was five hundred, how all of a sudden was it now ten thousand! I went to customers service to make a complaint, they only repeated what I’d already read in the app. Now I was back to being skeptical, I believed this was a fraudulent scheme.

   I didn’t know what prompted me to check outplaystore, but the next day I was right there checking out the app (fortune retail) review. The four point four stars had decreased to two point eight. I scrolled through comments, all negative. it started the day the app stopped working. People were cursing them out, how they had ruined their lives and stuffs. I didn’t even bother leaving a comment. Scrolling to the recent reviews, where people were talking about the ten thousand they had to pay to connect their account which they were NOT going to pay. More and more comment like that. Then another comment that suggested someone should make the payment to see if it actually worked before others did the same. That actually made a lot of sense, but who was ready to make the sacrifice. This was the question of who would bell the cat.

   I couldn’t continue looking, it wasn’t helping. I left the app more devastated.

   The next day, I was going through playstore again. I was scrolling through the latest comments. The reviews was now at about five hundred. The rate had decreased from two point eight to one point six. I kept scrolling through one stars and hateful comments. People had invested their life savings, trust funds and so on. Then I came across a five star. What! He not only gave the app a five star but also left a positive review which he had left not long after I left playstore the previous day.  He said he’d made the required payment of ten thousand and was able to withdraw his money, and he advised others to do the same.

   Hurriedly, I was out of playstore and was in the app. I checked on the clock, it was around after five in the evening. I still had enough time to deposit and makea withdrawal. So, I transferred the last amount from my account, which was ten thousand, into the app. As soon as it reflected into the app, I withdrew fifty thousand. Now I wait. I waited and waited till I fell asleep.

   I woke up the next day, opened the app, and the money had been reversed with the same message as before. For God’s sake, again! I went to customers service to complain. No response. 

Reality started to dawned up on me, I was now pennyless. What if the strike ended now and then? What was I going to do. I was back in playstore, scrolling through reviews. From one point six to one point four stars. Great, just great. I scrolled through the latest and found out that they guy that had left the five star and positive review was working for the app. And that was when I knew I had been scammed.

Thinking about it now, I should have seen all the red flags from the very beginning, but I was too blind to see.

  These people knew exactly what they were doing. They intentionally made it easy to withdraw a small amount, knew people were going to try with that. However, as soon as you invest with a large amount, it was over. That was why my brother was able to withdraw his money and I couldn’t. But I was blind, irrational and stupid.

  It finally sunk in my head that I had been scammed, all I could do now was to make back this money. Where do I even start? I have no one, I was the first child, no older siblings or cousins, no friend, I was all alone in this mess. I can’t even tell my own mother, she would probably have a heart attack. God, I shouldhave thought about all this before making such a decision that turned out to be a very foolish one. 

    I had a freelancer, an Upwork and a LinkedIn account. I’m a writer (freelance), I should be able to make this money back. I believed in myself (a very foolish belief, considering I was barely eighteen).

   The next day, my mom came dancing in my room at around six in the morning. The strike had been called off. School had finally resumed. Ofcourse school would resume now that I was in trouble. Talk about bad timing.

During the last week, there had been numerous sat down between the federal government and the student's association, but I hadn’t expected the federal government to actually agree to the students association’s demand this time. There had been numerous meetings in the past eight months that had been futile. 

 I couldn’t even bring myself to smile as my mom danced around. She thought I’d be happy at the news. About two months ago, I would, but not now, not so soon when I haven’t made back the money for school.

For like six months, I’d prayed for school to resume, it didn’t happen, but after praying for school NOT to resume, it happened. 

    I’m still a fresher, so I know for sure that returning student would resume first, write their exams and get promoted before freshers resumed. I took solace in that thought.

  A week later, I had written and sent out different proposals and resumes, still no response. Time was running out, but I still believed in myself. Well, that was until I got a notification that I had to pay my school fees before resumption. I couldn’t hold it any more, I burst into tears. I cried for myself, for the past I wished I could change, for the futureI now felt was slipping away, for what tomorrow would hold, what would become of me. I cried and cried. What should I do? Then I had an idea, how about selling my story, selling this story. But faster than hope could rise, it evaporated. The question remained staring at me, who would by my story?