As a Nigerian, talking about scams isn't really a subject I love to do all the time because there's this idea all over the world that Nigerians are scammers and so when you meet someone new for the first time who is from a different country, we constantly have to prove to them that we're different from Hushpuppi and the other famous scammers y'all must have heard of.
Not that you guys are entirely wrong having that mentality, I actually do think that in every five guys you see walking around, there's a huge possibility that two out of them are internet fraudsters, popularly known as yahoo boys. This, I believe is one of the reasons why the Nigerian police just arrest any young man they see on the road because there's a 60% chance that person is into something illegal.
So what this officers basically do is guesswork and seeing how accurate they get most of the time, that encourages them to keep on picking more guys and locking them up until they bail themselves out and then they get arrested again and the circle continues.
The truth is, when we talk of internet scammers, everybody in this country knows somebody who's into it (that is if they're not into it themselves). That is how worse the whole situation has gotten. Back in the day, the people who got into fraud were matured men who were said to be fearless and didn't give a damn about the law, but these days, any kid with a smart phone could be the reason why your mom is always on the phone smiling all the time because she thinks she has found love again, not knowing she's chatting with a sixteen year old kid.
I remember this one time I was walking with this guy I had met a few days ago and he was excited, talking about his "client" and how they had paid him 600 dollars the other day. Then after telling me his "good news" he had turned to me and asked me what kind of fraud I was into, he basically was asking this to know if I had any updates he could maybe use to upgrade his scams.
And then all of a sudden, something I never thought I would live to see happened, I became scared to tell him that I wasn't into fraud like he was, and the reason for this was because once they all know that you don't do fraud and that you frown at it, you sort of become their enemy. And I know that it's best being alone than being friends with these lots, but trust me when I say these scammers are so many that making an enemy out of them will literally be you putting a target on your back.
So I had looked at him and gave him a nervous smile before telling him that I wasn't ready to go into fraud (of course I didn't call it that) yet, and that at the moment I was just focused on school and would probably get into it when I'm done with school.
What that response had done was that it had given him the impression that although I wasn't into scams yet, I'm not entirely against it. And I could tell he wasn't satisfied with my response because he immediately stopped telling his scam stories and the rest of the walk was just a silent one.
So yeah, that is how deep this corrupt thing has eaten into the youths, it has gone so deep that it's no longer seen as a bad thing anymore because everyone is into it, and for some reason everybody has this messed up mentality that if everyone is doing it, then it's not wrong.
Unfortunately, the foreigners are not the only one getting scammed too. There are Nigerians desperately trying to scam other Nigerians everyday. I mean, I get a lot of scam text messages every now and then pretending to be bank agencies and asking me to send them my bvn (Bank Verification Number) just so that they could either verify something or help me qualify for some crazy promo I never signed up for.
But you see, these scams are what I call the local scams. The more sophisticated scams are so impressive that you just know that if this person hadn't turned to a life of crime, they would have made a name for themselves in the tech and software industry.
Some of these guys are so creative that they could stand in front of the camera talking to you and yet all you see is a white man, while this dude is as dark as they come. I heard some even send flowers and pizza's too all the way from Africa (don't ask, I don't know how).
Sometimes when I hear some of these stories, even I get fascinated by how far these guys are willing to go just for the wrong thing when if they had put that same energy and knowledge towards the right direction, they would make good money and wouldn't have to be scared of getting arrested or anything like that.
Fortunately for me, I've been able to avoid getting scammed because I don't even give them the space to try to talk to me. The moment I realize I don't know you and you can't even introduce yourself properly for me to recognize you, I'm off the phone. Because the more time you listen to these guys, the more convinced you get and then you become a victim.
With all that being said, I'd like to put it out there that there are a lot of good guys out here in Nigeria and I believe I'm one of them, the only thing that just makes it look like Nigeria is filled with only scammers is because when people get scammed, they scream out loud for the whole world to hear, but when a good deed is done towards you by a Nigerian, you mostly just say thank you and then move along.
But trust me when I say there are many more like me who frown against the act of fraud and many more like me who have vowed never to get into it.
The image used is a screenshot taken from my phone