Scammers, fraudsters and internet thieves thrive in our society because of the greediness, laziness and the sheer gullibility of their unsuspecting victims.
I am not saying this because I want to be too hard or because I know it all, rather it is because I want you to discard the illusion that you can become rich overnight. The moment you can do away with the “get rich quick syndrome”, only then will you not fall prey to these criminal and mischievous fellows.
I have been receiving their messages for a while now and I have been saying that I will write something about it but I never got to do so until now.
I was naïve like you when I was much younger. I can vividly remember the first time I received a promo message online, it was informing me that a wealthy man without an heir died willing his estate to be distributed to 20 randomly selected people from the internet and that my name was included. I was directed to fill a form, I was asked to call a particular international number to prove that I am alive. After I did that, I was asked if I have an international passport, I was also told that I have to be in America before a particular deadline otherwise I will forfeit everything.
I was only 16 years then. You can imagine how excited I was to be receiving $25,000, 000 from a total stranger. I couldn’t sleep a wink after I made the call to the international number which verified that I actually won the money and I should hasten up so that I don’t forfeit the money. Feel free to laugh because it is hilarious.
In my desperation, I went to my late elder brother, Emmanuel Nwaeze, God rest his soul. He laughed for a long time and told me that I have been scammed. He asked to know if I have given these people any money, I told him no. After which he told me not to contact them again that they were fraudsters.
A few months after this experience, I received an almost similar message. This time around, the amount was different so was the name and the contact number. I was wiser and I didn’t even bother to contact them.
These scammers come up with different messages written in various format but the message is always the same, the bottom-line remains that you have won a prize, money or its equivalent and you are advised to contact a particular number. Sometimes you play a game and other times you don’t play any lottery to warrant the winning.
I will not fail to mention the era of U.S Visa Lottery. A lot of people were scammed during that period; these included many Nigerians who were desperate to go oversea for greener pasture. Numerous people applied for U.S Visa to School, Work and Live in U.S. They had the America dream and fever. In their desperation, they played the lottery over and over again looking for the genuine centers. Most centers that claimed to be the authentic centers, asked for exorbitant amount of money for the processing the U.S Visa application. They made huge amount of money from their unsuspecting victims.
What made them look credible then was that they could back their claims with testimony of winners who applied through their centers and it inspired Green Card seekers to come to them. Some paid the price and got theirs, others paid the same price but didn’t win the lottery, some didn’t pay a dime but they won the lottery.
As if that was not enough, these scammers have devised new method to extort their victim of their hard earned money. Now they are using the mobile networks to scam. Because most of the networks i.e. MTN, GLO, Etisalat, Airtel are doing one promo or the other, scammers and fraudsters have capitalized on that to scam the unsuspecting public by sending messages using a number close to the Customer Care number.
In these messages, they tell their victim that they have won a specific amount of money and ask them to call a particular number, if they want to claim it. This is a typical example, “Lacasera Drink Promo: Congrats! You emerged winner of #300, 000 from our 10th Annual Promotion, Code No. MTN3). For claims, call Larry on 08131921656” another says, “call Pastor Larry on 07069724414 or 08162479678”.
The most recent one that happened to me was that I received a message from .180 saying “for recharging weekly, you have been offered N2, 000, 000 (two million) in the Loyalty Relief Scheme. Call 08168191971. For investigation sake, I called the number, 08168191971 and a male voice replied, “welcome to MTN customer Care Centre, How may I help you. You should note that first of all, the number I called was not 180, so why should the receiver be telling me that I am calling MTN customer care service? That was enough for me to be on red alert. The guy did not tell me his name so I observed that. He asked me “how may I help you?” The normal customer care response. So I responded that I received a message this morning informing me that I won money from a promo. I will give credit to the guy, immediately he exclaimed “oh! You mean the two million naira Loyalty relief Scheme promo?” I said yes and then he asked where I was calling from? I asked him if he cannot check his server to determine my location, he said he can’t. I told him I was calling from Warri, Delta State. When he asked my name, I told him that my number was registered so he should be seeing my name in the server. He said no that this is a regular question when you call the customer service, forgetting that he was pretending to be a customer service representative.
When the conversation became impassive the receiver terminated the call. When I called the same number with a different line few minutes later after I had spoken to MTN customer Care representative on hearing my voice, the receiver hung up.
Whereas my call with the Customer Care went smoothly. After introducing the network I was calling, the representative told me his name and asked how he may help me. I told him that I was calling to ask if MTN was running any Loyalty relief Scheme promo. He told me no. He went ahead to tell me that .180 is an internet generated number. The dot before the number nullified the number, that whenever MTN wants to do a promo, they announce it in the media- television, radio and newspaper. He added that they will send you a message to notify you and they will call you. He further advised that whenever you receive any such message, call customer care to clarify any issue instead of calling the number in the message.
I won’t fail to mention the Nigeria Custom scam where victims are told that custom is auctioning impounded cars at cheap and affordable price to Nigerians. The scam does follow this pattern: “NIGERIA CUSTOMS SERVICE: THE AUCTIONING OF IMPOUNDED CARS HAS COMMENCED. We deal in all cars, you can also make a request for the vehicle you want to purchase and also your budget for any vehicle, we shall call you back to inform you about it. We have these cars for sale right now. TOYOTA SIENNA 2002-2009 (450,000-600,000), HIGH LANDER 2005 - 2006 (N750,000), HONDA CRV 1998 - 2001 (N450,000), TOYOTA COROLLA 2003 - 2006 (N400,000),TOYOTA MATRIX 2005 - 2006 (N550,000),TOYOTA ALVALLON 2001-2010 (N350,000), XTERA 2002 (N400,000), HONDA ACCORD 2003 (N350,000), HONDA ACCORD 2004 (N400,000), HONDA ACCORD 2001 (N350,000),TOYOTA COROLLA 1998 (300,000), MERCEDES-BENZ M500 (N600,000), TOYOTA CAMRY 1998-2010 (N400,000), LEZUS RX, NISSAN PATHFINDER, JAGUAR ACURA, Honda Accord(EOD)=500,000, Honda Pilot=600,000, Honda CVR 2007=450,000, Honda Civic IVTEC=420,000, Toyota Rav 4 2008 =400,000, Toyota 4Runner =470,000, Toyota Corolla =350,000, Toyota Camry 2000=300,000, Toyota Highlander (2009 model)= 550,000 Toyota Avenza= 400,000, Toyota Avensis (2010 model)= 420,000, Toyota Avensis (2007 model)= 450,000, Toyota Avensis (2005 model)= 350000, Toyota Hilux= 650,000, Toyota Siena= 570,000, Toyota Hiace= 600,000. NO CUSTOM OFFICER SHOULD BE PART OF THIS PURCHASE. THANKS (NCS). CALL: JOHNSON ADEKUNLE TELL: +2348068611101, 07063017142 OR 08168345721.
It is not a bad thing to want to improve your standard of living, to want a better life as well as to break even, but when you decide to achieve this through shortcut then you should know that every action has a repercussion. The repercussion can be good or bad depending on the circumstance. This advice goes to both the victims and the criminals.
The victims should ignore unsolicited messages informing them that they have won such a huge amount of money; most times they did not partake in the said game. And when you partake in such game, be sure to verify the authenticity of the winning. Open up to others, confide in them and do not be too greedy that you want to keep everything to yourself. You never can tell, the person may turn out to be your saviour.
As for the criminals, you think you are smart, faceless and that you can’t be caught. Just remember that “every day for the thief, one day for the owner”. You cannot escape forever, one day the long arm of the law will surely catch up with you. Your next victim might just be the one who will lead the law enforcement agents to your doorstep. Beware and change your way.
Tel: 08181688389
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