NIGERIA 419 SCAM: A SETBACK TO AFRICANS INTEGRITY
The fact that I’m one of the latest exploited victims of the sculpulus group of 419 scam triggered my exposè on it. Nigerian 419 scam is however a major concern for the global community. The term ‘419’ is coined from section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code (part of Chapter 38: Obtaining Property by false pretence and Cheating) dealing with fraud. Nowadays, the axiom ‘419’ generally refers to a complex list of offences which in ordinary parlance are related to stealing, cheating, falsification, impersonation, forgery and fraudulent representation of facts. The main difference between ‘419’ scam and stealing is the ‘false pretense’ which is the major element in’419’ scam.
In fact, the menace of Nigeria 419 has become an alarming issue in the globe at large. The introduction, growth and utilization of information and telecommunication technologies (ICTs) have been accompanied by an increase in illegal activities. With respect to cyberspace, mobile phones and tablets anonymous servers, hijacked emails and fake websites are being used as a tool and medium for fraud by cyber scammers.
It is appalling that the advance fraud scam is also referred to as a “Nigerian Letter” because large scale use of the 419 fraud first began in that country. Sometimes when one take a reflection on the fast outraging menace of 419 scam in Nigeria especially among the youths, one would immediately question the state of such people’s moral conscience. Perhaps, one may immediately conclude that they lack sense of gult as well as they have no iota of human conscience and human sympathy. Thus, we may likely say that morality does not exist in such people’s mind. In fact, for them it is a way of life.
In adendum to the fact that Nigeria is one of the top leading corrupt countries of the globe, she has also turned to the deport of advance fraudsters. Against this back drop, many Nigerians outside the confine of the country cannot emphatically claim to be Nigerians without a rethink of such claim. People especially foreign ones fear Nigerians now like a plague. Many Nigerians in Diaspora are even ashamed to admit that they are Nigerians out there. I’ve heard about corporate places in western countries that have stickers in their workplace saying, ‘do not do business with a Nigerian’ They must have had it pretty rough by Nigerians. It’s really that bad. In furthering the above, it will be apposite to discussing about the trend of yahoo boys.
THE TREND OF YAHOO BOYS
Over the past couple of years, a new trend has been birthed among the Nigerian youths known as Yahoozee. I don’t know how it came about, but these Yahoozee or Yahoo boys as they fondly call themselves prey upon the innocence and greed of foreigners who want to make some quick cash or gain. They have various methods which they use to waylay unsuspecting victims into paying up. After they have hundreds or thousands of emails from notable sites, using Email Extracting software, they are able to send bulk emails or spam to these people, requesting them to deposit money for so and so reason, or for a little charity work or something. These days are more elaborate and some even own well developed web sites for their work. And these kids are hauling it in, you have to see, they drive around in cars you can only see on rap videos. It is sad!
It will interest you readers to know that nowadays, we don’t have ordinary Yahoo Boys again, what we now have is ‘Yahoo Plus’. When one hears this anachronism, what quickly comes to one’s mind in form of question is; Yahoo plus what? Youth of today now use evil spiritual power or charm if you like to fraud people out there. This simply makes it Yahoo plus charm. At this point, I asked myself the different between ‘Money Ritual’ and ‘Yahoo Plus.’ I suppose the difference between those two aforementioned evil acts is simply the difference six (6) and half of a dozen. Hence, the so called Yahoo Plus Boys are those I will tag with the title of ‘Professional Ritualists.’
The 419 scammers commonly refer to victims as a ‘mugu’ or ‘maga’, a Nigerian word for “big fool” popularized by the YouTube song “ I Go Chop Your Dollar”.The song’s lyrics include “you are the mugu, I be the master” and “419 is just a game”. Scammers themselves are sometimes referred to as ‘Yahoo-Boys’, ‘Awon Omo Wobe’, Real Guys and many others. These names sometimes come with a bit effisy but I think they deserve something worse than that. They deserve names like apanilekun jaye, alafowora, Adigun-jale, fraud stars and many others. In Nigeria today, there are too many to count but it is obvious that most of the 170 million Nigerians are not aware that some of their fellow country-men have earned them the dubious honour of becoming the world globalizer for Fraud.
CONCLUSION AND THE WAY OUT
The greatest fallacy one will run into is to say that one can easily tackle this great outrageous scam menace in the society. The greatest problem I think we are really facing in this country is that the whole system is corrupt. Hence the moral justification to really fight the scam menace is at a minimal on the part of the leaders. The question is ‘who is catching who?’ we have to undergo a rethink, quarantine and vaccinate the whole economy system before we can think of the best technique to curb or tackle this problem.
Also, a popular clichè goes thus; “an idle hand is the devil’s workshop.” The horrible condition of the country on employment opportunity for the young graduate has really added more than a bit to this problem. Most of those who are found perpetuating this evil are the youths and sometime their helpless condition lure them to take up this unpleasant way of life. However, inasmuch as the problem of unemployment cannot sufficiently give a justified ground of the menace, then a strict measure in form of proper sanction should be taken by the government on anyone who is found perpetuating this stinking evil act.
Lastly, Nigeria as a country has become a place where fraudulent has been considered a way of life for the people. This I will call ‘a state of chronic instability’. At this point of time in our country, we need to re-examine our state of morality and undergo a deep reflection on how we can really establish a firm and sound moral standard for people especially the young ones. Consequently, since most of the people perpetuating this evil are from a family, then we should question the background and where they learn the dubious attitude from. The first step to fighting this corruption is re-examination of our conscience. Our leaders at this point have to be on their feet to really tackle this problem that has painted the image of the country black to an almost nonredeemable level.
