UK man loses £12K in thrift contribution as collector unexpectedly dies

A UK-based man has shared the heartbreaking story of losing £12,000 (N24M) in a thrift savings scheme after the collector passed away unexpectedly.

In a viral post on X (formerly Twitter), user @tobyasky detailed the incident, revealing the emotional and financial toll it has taken.

The thrift scheme, commonly known as ajo, involved 12 close-knit members contributing £1,000 monthly. One member would take home the sum of £12,000, and the arrangement ran smoothly for months.

However, tragedy struck in July, when it was @tobyasky’s turn to collect. The group’s collector, Kola, had been unresponsive for two days before the payout.

How I lost £12,000 to thrift contribution

“This year wasn’t funny. I was part of a monthly “ajo” contribution group. We knew each other well, all 12 of us, no stranger amongst us.

We contributed £1,000, and every month, one person took home £12,000. It was built on trust, and we’d never envisage or even had any issues. It was
finally my turn to collect sometimes in July.

I’d already planned how I would use the money, pay off some debts and invest the rest.

We have a group chat but Kola (the guy who holds the money) has not been really active for about 2 days, nobody had anything to worry about though.
I called Kola repeatedly on the day of the payout, but there was no answer. Then, few days later, his wife called one of us, sobbing. Kola had passed away that some days ago.

It took us one month to be able ask Kola’s wife about the money just to be sensitive. When we eventually did, she had no idea about it.
To this day, we don’t know what happened to the money.”