At the mention of the name Nigeria, the first thought of most foreigners is scam or scammers.
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Even though this hurts people like me, I wouldn't blame those who see every Nigerian as a scammer or potential conman. The activities of a small set of persons have tainted the lovely image of a large amount of Nigerian youths, making it very difficult for us to embark on certain projects on the internet.
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For example, PayPal was banned in Nigeria for a lot of years, even though Nigeria is among the top five internet marketing countries in the world. It took a petition signed by over 1,000,000 people for the payment service to be made available in the country, and even when it came, there was (still is) no option for sending money. Yes, it is that bad. And this is why I felt the need to educate my blog readers on how to identify internet scammers from Nigeria.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THEM
Badly written English: The first way to identify an internet scammer from Nigeria is to take note of his/her grammar. 99% of youths involved in internet fraud in Nigeria are high school dropouts and street urchins. The bulk of them could not cope with school and its demands, thus leading to their exit. Because they become helpless and useless in the society, they venture into internet fraud, hoping to make quick and easy money from 'magas' (a local slang for a person who has been scammed or being scammed). A closer look at their written English during a chat should arouse your suspicion. Also watch out for CONSTANT spelling errors, as they are usually in a rush to reply.
Time Zone: Standard time for operation is midnight, Nigerian time (GMT+1). They give excuses to unsuspecting 'internet friends' about why they won't be available in the daytime. Also, most of their 'clients' are Americans who are usually awake at Midnight, Nigerian time because of the time difference. So they tend to wait till that period to carry out their ugly venture.
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Message intervals: Because most of them are really not smart, even though they pretend to be, internet fraudsters reply messages at very odd intervals. This is also something to look out for.
Sweet and Kind words: These set of people make you feel relaxed by using kind words while chatting. As much as it is normal to be kind to strangers online, one must always keep his/her guards up.
HOW THEY OPERATE
Dating sites/social networking sites: The bulk of them are on social networking sites, especially Facebook, looking for who to prey on. They use pictures of half-clad pretty ladies to lure men.
Stranded in a country/hotel: Another means of operation is telling unsuspecting 'internet friends' that they are stranded in a hotel, asking them to talk to the manager about their debt. Some prefer to cook up stories about traveling to another country for a seminar and their credit cards have refused to work because the company blocked it for some ridiculous reason. They plead for a loan, milk their victims some more and disappear, never to be seen again.
Apartment rent: This is the most popular means among these bunch at the moment. They put up pictures of beautiful apartments in the guise of renting them out. Swindle victims of their money and disappear into thin air.
Credit card: They send out bulk emails creating fear in receivers about how their cards will soon be blocked or almost hacked, while asking them to click a link to avoid such. Using phishing technology, they steal their card details and buy things with them.
creditCloning websites: This is old but still works for internet fraudsters. They clone popular websites, where unsuspecting victims enter their credit card details and the rest is history.
CONCLUSION
Reeling out these methods may help some persons from being scammed, while others may not be so lucky. In all, it is advisable to be careful when interacting with strangers online or when you receive strange messages. I will be looking forward to your comments. More interesting posts to come.