Thanks to PayPal’s redundant idea of not supporting Nigeria residents and my own negligence of the power of internet fraudsters. I have been handed my own fair share of duping by internet scammers.
Blame it on me for posting a public offer to any member who has a $$$ loaded verified PayPal account on
Bloggers Lab. Of course, I got a lot of feedback. So, I decided to stick with a guy who appeared ‘trust worthy’ to me. Little did I know that
Young Wap Master will turn out to be the guy who will defraud me for the first time ever.
Yesterday I was asked by a client to
unlock a Huawei E303 Glo Bolt modem. Unfortunately, my Indian friend
+Stanly stephen did not have up to the required amount needed to complete the transaction in his Paypal account. And considering the urgency of the demand, I needed to improvise. Hence, my meeting with Ogedengbe Omojuwon Young (aka Young Wap Master) who claimed to have over $142 in his Paypal account.
Obviously, I was in need of $30 but I was hoping I could use the guy’s services later in the future. But on a second thought, I thought it wise to make a deposit of $14 since I barely knew this guy. A decision which payed off later in the end.
In the end, as little as $14 (instead of $30 or even $142) was enough to get the experience of what it feels like to be duped, the common attributes of scammers and tips to keep them away. Something I called “Discount in duping”.
Some Common Attributes of Facebook Scammers
With my first official experience as a victim of scam and the impression created by some girls who “happened to view my profile” residing in a refuge camp. I have been able to come up with some identical characteristics of spammers I have encountered on Facebook.
Magical Profile Lovers
It is kind of funny, a few of my friends still fall for shit like this. If you encounter a massage similar to the one below. Be smart and do yourself a favour. Do not fall for it!
Hello, My name is Miss Susana Yake, I am an Africa girl, I read your profile today at it was so good to me. I feel you are the only one missing in my entered life so i decided to stop on it and let you know that i am interested to be a friend first. I also believe that coming to you will be a probability of meeting that very thing that has been lacking in my entered life. Please contact me at my email address ( susanayake(at)yahoo.com )I am a girl with respect and responsible,i respect people also and believe if you contact me,i will give you a full introduction of my self okay. i hope to hear from you soon. Remember, all the darkness in the world, can-not put out the light of a single candle as long as the light of love shines bright in your heart, and (Remember the distance or color does not matter but love matters a lot in life cares for my future love. ( susanayake(at)yahoo.com)
Just for the record: This message was sent to me via Facebook massage. Then I said to myself, why is Miss Susana Yake asking me to send a message to her email address while we are on Facebook? Scammers are well aware of the fact that their Facebook account can be deleted at any time (depending on the number of Facebook users who has reported the profile as spam). Since the process of scamming may take so long (in most cases), they consider it smarter and convenient to use an email address.
Another thing to note about the above message is that Miss Susana Yake obviously do not know who I am. In most cases, a girl who has truly read my profile will use greetings such as: Hello Ebenezer, Hi Obasi, Hey Uwazie, etc. Since this is a general message probably sent by a bot, your profile name cannot be included.
This sentence “Remember the distance or color does not matter but love matters a lot in life cares for my future love” shows that Miss Susana clearly does not know that I’m a Nigerian or that I’m dark in complession pointing to the fact that she never check my profile.
Cheap Offers
We all like it when the prices of goods and services are sliced down a bit, and scammers know that as well. The equivalent price for $1 in naira is N153. So that online dealers can sell within the range of N170 to N195 per $.
A very important tip to know in any business is that cheap services often lack quality. In most cases, they may even turn out to be fraudsters trying to entice you with cheaper rates.
If you must use the services of a ‘cheap’ agent. Try asking for reviews of that agent on Facebook groups related to the services you want to acquire.
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Avoid User Profiles with a Single Photo
If a user who has a Facebook profile with a single photo (profile photo) or photos that has no resemblance to each other is asking you to call a Rev. Father in Senegal. Run away!
Internet scammers is a pledge we will never get rid of. To remain on the safer side, always:
- Ask: Ask for reviews on forums and Facebook groups before hiring the unknown agent. Doing a little Google search as well, will do you some good.
- Contact: If the review is positive, contact the agent to find out more about his/her proposal.
- Think: Think about his/her proposal.
before you ACT.
For me $14 (N2,200) was enough to teach me a very important lesson, thanks to Ogedengbe’s desperate need of money. I know that quite a number of you has lost much more than $14 (N2,200) to Facebook scammers. That means bigger lesson to you 🙂 My hope is that you will be willing to share your experience, lessons and tips with me in the comment section.
You can also create awareness to other Facebook users by sharing this page on Facebook Groups and your personal profile.
I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing it?
From E. U. Obasi,
Goodbye for now, and have a splendid weekend 🙂