END OF THE ROAD FOR SCAMMERS: As Their Antics Have Been Discovered.
Before you walk out on this page, I would suggest you pause a little and read this article. It is obvious you might have been scammed before.Perhaps your relation, friend, acquintance, colleague.etc might have been scammed. On the contrary, you may be one of those smart people who do not respond to unsolicited mails. Who do not give out their personal information to strangers especially on the internet; or those who after reading a supposedly scam letter will delete it or simply reply to say fuck off you ass hole or fucking scammer. Which ever category you may belong certainly this article has a space for you.
For you that have not been scammed probably because you know the antics of these scammers, what effort have you made to inform people around you on how to avoid being duped by these scammers? Perhaps you are not aware that so many people have lost their fortunes to these miscreants due to ignorance. Yes I can never fall for scam you may say, but how about others? Do you know how many lives you would have saved, or money you would have helped victims of scam save if you had informed them?
On one occasion I logged into a site only to read shocking mails by some victims of scam. One disabled man wrote that he had spent $4000 to receive a purported inheritance fund from Nigeria. Another woman wrote that she had spent $200,000 to claim an inheritance fund from Nigeria and had just been charged another $100,000 by the "Central Bank Governor" of Nigeria in order to transfer her fund. A woman also wrote that she was swindled to the amount of $5400 by a Nigeria who claimed to be a Briton working in Nigeria. The confessions are endless. I could write a book from the mails.
After reading the mails, it then occurred to me why Nigeria has the reputation of a corrupt nation and why her citizens abroad are treated with disdain. In all the mails I read, most of the victims made reference to Nigeria.
But if I may ask, is Nigeria the only corrupt nation in the world? Do you know that these scammers in Nigeria gets their information and tools from their counterparts in US, Britain, Germany, Japan, India amongst others? They depend on the citizens of most technologically advanced countries for the tools they work with. Now, lets say you gave me information about a banks plan to transfer money to a particular branch as well as the guns to way-lay the bullion van on the road. I took the guns and with the information I successfully collected the money. Who would you refer in this case as the thief?
I am not trying to justify the acts of these scammers from Nigeria. But I am saying that corruption is universal. It is not country, regional or racial specific. It is a universal phenomenom.And if the battle against scam must be fought and won then it must be a global effort. To succeed in this war, you must erase from your sub-consciousness the notion that Nigeria and her citizens are the most corrupt. Like I wrote in my previous work, Nigeria: Good People, Great Nation, the country can boast of prominent men and women that have contributed immensely to the socio-political and economic development of the world.Globalisation could not have been possible without Internet. And like Microsoft founder, Bill Gate once said, Dr Philip Emeagwali (a Nigerian) is the father of internet. What about the likes of Professors, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Chukwuma Soludo, Ngozi Okonjo Iwuela (World Bank Managing Director) amongst others.
Be that as it may be, I am forced to ask myself why people fall for scam? Yes Nigeria is filled with swindlers you may argue, but do they rip their victims off their money at gun point? Is it possible to compel any rational human being perhaps in the US, to send money to somebody in Nigeria? Believe me whatsoever that goes on between a scammer and his victim is based on mutual consent between the two and is shrouded in secrecy. In most cases you discover that a victim (woman/man/child) hides his/her dealings from her partner or parents. In that case would you say that one was ripped?
Why do people fall for scam? The answers might be relative no doubt. Why you fell or will for scam might be different from why I fell or will fall for scam. However you look at it the reasons why people fall for scam are summarized under three headings.
1. GREED. Yes greed! Most people want to reap were they didn’t sow. How on earth would you want to get $10,000,000 from Nigeria as inheritance or contract fund when you never had any business or a relation that had business in Nigeria? Who told you that Nigeria is Father Christmas? Most people have fallen to this form of scam and more may still fall unless we change our attitude today. That is why the President of the Senate of the Federal republic of Nigeria, Senator David Mark, said while receiving an economic delegation from the republic of Ireland on 25th march, 2009, "that Nigeria does not owe foreign nationals who fall victims to fraudsters an apology". According to him, most of such persons are victims of greed who are eager to reap where they didn’t sow. A statement by his chief press secretary, quoted him saying that, "I have no apology for victims of 419"."If somebody ask you to bring say $200,000 in order to get $20m in return without investing anything concrete or rendering valuable services and you go ahead to do so, if you are ripped off in the process, you should blame yourself and not the system".
What most scammers do is to paint a bright picture of hope for you. One which is usually not closely related to the actual situation. They use simple truth to betray you into deepest consequences. They often use big amounts of money to lure their willing victim. And once such an opportunity to get big money without working for it is tangled in front of you, you start thinking about the possibilities of such figures in your bank account. Remember, those figures can easily be conjured up by anyone.
I will caution you my dear reader, never to be too greedy at any point in time. Greediness they say breeds foolishness.
2. DESPERATION: Scamming is like seduction. They are both a game and a business. Their practitioners employ similar tactics. They exploit your weakness and use it against you. Most people fall for seduction out of desperation and curiosity. Somebody holds bait and lures you to enter his net so you would be trapped. And because your weakness has been manipulated to your disadvantage you willingly swallow the bait. During this period your close pals warns you of the impending danger but you wouldn’t listen. This is because your will power has left you and you have succumbed to the power of the seducer. Even when you discover that you are being conned, you find it difficult to quit. This is a typical example of a scam scenario.
Most people that are scammed are desperate human beings. They have a dream that is yearning to be fulfiled.And once they see this kind of opportunity a scammer promises (say an inheritance claim of $10m), they jump at the offer without thinking twice. Deep down their heart the opportunity to fulfill a forgotten dream has come. "With $10m, I can achieve all my dreams". The desire to fulfill this dream makes them desperate to collect the inheritance, contract or lottery fund money. The scammer sensing how desperate they are adopts various strategies to milk them off their hard earned money. And most times this sort of victims loses all their fortunes..
3. IGNORANCE.
"Ignorance is Bliss", they say. In this age of globalization, one can get information on any subject matter of ones choice very easily. Yet some people are still subjected to the oblivion of ignorance. As said earlier on, Ignorance is one of the major reasons why people fall for scam. In the case of Nigeria, for instance, government officials are impersonated by these fraudsters. And the unsuspecting victim leap for joy when he/she is contacted by a primary school drop out claiming to be the President of Nigeria, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Or any other top ranking official of the Nigeria Government. It surprises me when I see some foreign nationals believing these fraudsters. When any good thinking man or woman should know that It is difficult for a president of a country to deal directly with a citizen of another country for whatsoever reason. But this is what most scam victims overlook. They are blindfolded by greed that they fail to think twice in their actions. What a pity!
My candid advice is that you verify information from unsolicited mails before reacting.
Agreed there are avalanche of opportunities in Nigeria, there are also legitimate ways of exploiting those opportunities to your advantage. But when you decide to cut corners, you make yourself readily available for wolves.
Having known why people fall for scam, I will advice that you spread this message. Because when people are informed of the antics of scammers, they will be on guard. And once the scammer does not see a victim to devour he begins to search for a legitimate means of surviving. And in this way we will eradicate fraudsters from the world.
