Thursday, May 5, 2011

Yahoo yahoo: Maga no need pay.....

This wasn't what I wanted to talk about today, but after going through my mails and seeing  an average of 10 scam mails from different people I don't know but who call me "Friend" and who think I can be of help to them in clearing their millions of dollars and/or  pounds, I decided to talk about it.

Am I the only one still receiving these yahoo-yahoo mails? I thought with the awareness out there on the way they operate and the fact that people are more wary these days with the economic depression,no extra money to spare and all, that their business has reduced. From all indications this is not the case. They are still out there and the sad thing is that people might still be falling prey. 

Yahoo-yahoo is what oyinbo people will call Internet scams. They have different levels of operating. Some of them will call you on the phone and say one of your relations sent you something from overseas and then will either give you a number to call to get the address where you can go and pick up the items. I don't know how this type ends or how they eventually get money off  the victim;but for them to be doing it that means people are falling for it. My mum almost fell for one these scammers once. The guy called her mobile number and said someone sent her some things from London. We have an uncle in London, so she readily believed that it was true. What gave the guy away was when she from nowhere asked him for the name of the person who was sending the stuff, he now mentioned an Ibo name whereas my uncle has a typical Urhoboh name. Immediately the guy knew he had blown his cover he hung up the phone. That is how they didn't chop my mum that day.

The most common one is the one I have flooding my email. The scammer will send a mail that he is the Assistant Director in one ambiguous bank in West Africa and how they have so much money belonging to a deceased customer and how the bank wants to move the money to a reserved account as abandoned funds. Since he is a sharp guy and also believes he is sending the mail to a fellow "sharpie" that will also seize the opportunity to make a quick one. The sum of money they talk about is always millions of dollars*like it is possible to have that kind of money and just forget it. In this case I am sure the guy will eventually ask the victim to send some money to him, so can clear the millions into his account and this can continue as long as the victim thinks there is one money he will receive from somewhere. After all how much is some thousand dollars to the millions he will get at the end of the deal? I do not come to you by chance written by Adaobi Nwaubani talks about internet scams in her novel.




It is rather unfortunate that Nigeria has gotten a bad name for this. There are many  people who are doing good business, working hard and trying to show the outside world that we can also be known for good things.


My time is up. I leave you with this video  Maga no need pay. Enjoy



6 comments:

  1. you mentioned a recession then you soke about a fraudster that promises you money...ding!!! that is why people are still falling for scams. They need money. Secondly Aunty Greed is present. lol. Funny thing i havent gotten those mails in ages. I dont miss them shaa

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  2. girl I dont think the scammers will ever stop. We get a ton to my work emaile very single day. The 419s still go strong, not only that, other people have wathced and learnt. People just need to smarten up I think.

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  3. Ha, the scourge of yahoo emails. My email system does a good job of putting them in my spam box. All I have to do is press delete.

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  4. @ Ginger: Lol at Aunty Greed. Lucky you, those mails still plague my box
    @Adaeze: Yes i agree, people just need to be really smart about them
    @Adura Ojo: Kudos to your email system

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  5. Scammers wll never stop just as the people that fall for them never will stop.

    Those who still send the mails are the amateurs, the ones who do big deals are now wise and do not send mail. I still receive the mails and all i do is just press delete.

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  6. Blessings.....
    I enjoyed the video. I don't think that scamming is exclusive to Nigeria or Nigerians they are everywhere in every culture, every nation. The world is made up of all kind, the good, the bad, the ugly. Today the focus is on Nigeria tomorrow it will be another country. Believe me.

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