By Steven Enatu
TESO
A Financial Institution claiming to be based in Lira City is a fraud, this reporter can authoritatively report.
Prime Legend Agency has in the process defrauded many innocent farmers in Teso in the name of issuing them post harvest loans.
This comes at a time when farmers in the region are counting losses after a prolonged dry spell that hit the area at the start of April that saw hundreds of acres of maize, beans, Millet, Simsim and Groundnut wither from the gardens with some farmers anticipating food shortage in the near future.
Richard Eliru, a farmer from Obur Village in Bululu sub county Kalaki District says he fell victim to Prime Legend agency, a purported financial institution claiming its base in Lira City.
Eliru said he had heard of the institution on a local radio talk show program narrating that they help farmers’ secure fast loans for procuring motorcycles and seeds for agricultural inputs.
On the talk show program according to Eliru the company claiming its head office in Lira noted that if one wanted 500,000UGX as a loan he or she sends 25000 UGX via a phone with a NIN number the company’s registered number.
It’s upon this that Eliru dialed the number of the company seeking for a loan of 500,000UGX to help him buy seeds and weed his already looking unyielding crops in the garden.
Prior to this, Eliru was asked to pay 40,000UGX for processing the loan which he sent, later on he was asked to pay 38,000UGX and 25000 UGX for assessment and later again 41000 for the manager to sign documents.
/////////////////////////Eliru on what the company say about their loan
“They were saying they are giving loans to farmers for 8 months and boda boda riders on radio even those who wanted to open small micro business, so i thought i could also try and get their loan to help me buy seeds and weed my crops from the garden but all in vain, last week I called them and asked if they could refund my money since I was not receiving any money, they became rude to me and asked me to reach their office if i can” he said.
Eliru sold his animal and some food items from his home with hope that the loan would help him do more. He however said up to date no money has been given to him by the financial institution to that effect.
Resident District Commissioner Kaberamaido District Jimmy Ssegawa Ebil said the victims should have reported the matter to police for further actions.
He warned people to desist from doing transactions that are not legit by ensuring that they verify the authenticity of such institutions before doing any transactions.
This reporter called the number that they use for the transaction +256776428001 and spoke to a man. Our intention was to verify what they do. In the communication, our reporter said he wanted a loan of 10,000,000UGX to procure two motorcycles and this is what he was told.
//////////////////Trickster conversation with our reporter
“10,000,000UGX, you will be given three years to pay back that’s 36 month and every month you will be paying 277,800UGX and our ten million will have come back. If you pick that money today during this lockdown, we shall give you an allowance of three month because people are not working. You should have the national ID because we need your NIN number and a registered bank account or mobile money number because with this lockdown you cannot reach our office” he said.
The sounding inquisitive and merciless trickster asked this reporter to read his NIN number and make the deposit of 500,000UGX before receiving the ten million out in ten minutes just like that.
When asked of the physical address, a lady who received the phone on the very number above said they are located at AitoOjok lane plot 38 but our snoop in Lira said the only lending institution around that area is Platinum credit with another related business name dealing in scholastic materials Prime Education consult.
