Over the weekend, a Twitter user named Ibukun Adeyemi, recounted how she lost some N49, 000 to fraudsters. Agreed, this amount is nothing compared to how much other Nigerians have lost to internet scammers. Yet, this development raises concerns due to the nature of the crime.
Apparently, internet fraudsters have continued to devise new ways of getting their victims to fall prey. The newest technique entails a combination of ponzi schemes and outright hacking of victims’ social media handles.
With no intention to shame the victim of this, it must be noted that greed also played a huge role in this case. See the victim’s tweets and then we can talk afterwards.
How Ibukun Adeyemi was scammed
“In a moment of weakness and desperation, I was scammed of 49,000. I saw on my friend’s post on IG how her money was tripled in 30 mins and because I really needed money yesterday to pay up some bills, I decided to try it.
“In the picture attached below is my friend’s IG handle and I chatted her up to know how real it was, and she replied me that it was, she invested 100,000 and it tripled to 300,000. I could not believe my ears. I went ahead to chat the ‘miracle worker.
“I continued chatting with this miracle worker after I checked her out on IG and even read the comments. I don’t know how it happened, but I was hooked. I even called my mum that I just saw this and this, that if it clicks, she should get ready to invest.
“God was seriously warning me by blocking my pin when I was trying to pay, network was bad, but I stood up and went to the bank to make this transfer using Card. When I got there, the mobile transfer was successful. This was after several attempts.
“After the transaction was successful, I sent a screenshot with my account details to them. The account I sent the 8,000 to was one OBAMWONYI ESAYANDE using an ECOBANK account number 2900008112.
“Then she told me that before I get the money, I will pay COT of 3k. Still, I went ahead to borrow money. Then after some mins, she said she made a mistake that my COT was 7k and I should pay the extra 4k which I told her that I didn’t have.
“After I paid this COT, I waited for another 20 mins and then she chatted me up again to say that I will pay reference fee, here, I was getting scared, but I also paid in 15k. She said the fee of 12k, I was angry but guess what I borrowed again to pay by 8.”
[READ MORE: NCC warns telcos against cyber fraudsters)
Now, let’s face the truth
From the foregoing, it is obvious that Nigerians’ love for ponzi schemes equally played a role here. Many people in this country are ever willing to rush into the next get-rich-quick-scheme. For this reason, fraudsters continually take advantage of this. That is exactly what happened in the case of Ibukun. And Nigerians were quick to point this out to her.
I just cant believe this video
😂😂😂😂
— Dr Ola Brown (@NaijaFlyingDr) December 15, 2019
Some Nigerians were, however, sympathetic. Hopefully, Ibukun’s unfortunate experience will serve as a lesson to Nigerians and ultimately help to limit the re-occurrence of things like this.
So sorry this happened to you. As I was reading this, I was hoping you'd stopped when they kept asking for more. But I understand that feeling. You wanted to see it to the end & you acted based on trust for your friend. I am sorry, and I hope you recover your money soon.
— Groot🌱 (@0xgroott) December 15, 2019
In the meantime, Ecobank has responded to Ibukun’s Twitter thread, advising her to lodge a formal complaint with her bank.
Hello @iamibkadeyemi, sequel to the telephone conversation with our representative you have been advised. Please lodge a formal complaint at your bank for further assistance. However, your concern has been taken for necessary action. Thank you. https://t.co/Ne0hdgcmjU
— Ecobank Nigeria (@ecobank_nigeria) December 15, 2019