Escaping from Scams: Nigeria to China
I would have thought that Nigerians were the only fraudsters/scammers in the world but who knew scammers are everywhere even better or more sophisticated than Nigerians?
Reading the BBC, one would have thought it was majorly Nigerians. According to a 2019 BBC article: the "largest case of online fraud in US history", amongst 80 people indicted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) - 77 of them were Nigerians.
An expose by Bloomberg on a high profile case of the self proclaimed Billionaire Gucci master “Ray Hushpuppi” whose instagram flexing lifestyle and braggadocios attitude precipitated and led to his arrest adds to the notion that Nigerians are overly represented in this nefarious act but my recent experience proves this flat wrong.
As my first caveat, it behooves me to point out that there is difference between scam and fraud but both words are commonly used interchangeably so it gets confusing but I am going to proceed according to the amount of money swindled and the number of victims of said fraud/scam.
According to Chime.com;
Fraud refers to any suspicious activity to your bank accounts that you did not authorize. This might include someone using your debit or credit card number to make unauthorized purchases, logging into your account and locking you out, or full-on identity theft.
In the case of identity theft, a fraudster might use your identity to:
Open new bank accounts or credit cards in your name.
Receive medical care using your health insurance.
Claim your tax refund before you file.
In the instance of scams, scammers convince you to authorize a transaction or willingly hand over personal information.
Here are a few common examples of scams:
Phone scams: A person (or robot) calls or texts you and convinces you to send them money or share personal information like your Social Security number. They may pretend to be a debt collector or government employee and threaten legal action against you if you don’t comply.
Lottery scams: A person calls or emails you to inform you that you’ve won a prize – but requires you to make an upfront payment to cover fees and taxes.
Romance scams: Scammers may fake an online relationship with you, then use your trust to convince you to send them money.
With what I have gathered, all methods and tricks included in both the definition of fraud and scams are interchangeably employed by the perpetrators of this nefarious activity so it seems like they’re both the same to be honest.
Maybe its my tunnel vision since I am Nigerian so I will tend to focus more on Nigerians despite the overwhelming and history biggest frauds did not come from Nigerians.
According to USNews, 9 of the biggest financial fraud cases in history are:
FTX (Sam Bankman-Fried)
Theranos (Elizabeth Holmes)
Ivan Boesky
Bernie Madoff
Wirecard
Wells Fargo
Luckin Coffee
Volkswagen
Enron
Since we have established that not only Nigerians are engaged in this. The question that comes to mind, is it that many of them are less professional? or uncouth? or are so desperate to be famous by being the loudest, most boastful or brazen online fraudsters? - although this speaks to an underlining deeply held insecurities but that topic is for another day.
Is it that they are incompetent or scapegoats to teach would be scammers a lesson? Or targeted justice? Or plain old greed catching up on them?
I can hear the town criers banging the talking drums expecting me to attribute it to race but sorry chiefs, it’s more likely a case of class difference. One between white collar crime and blue collar crime which of course would be punished differently (not saying its fair but what is).
The reason for this my recent foray (more like escape?) into the world of scams began some weeks ago after passing an interview for a sales job in a “digital marketing” company but only for me to resume and on my first day realizing it was an actual, fully operational scam company! Meaning they scammed innocent people/victims for profit!
I have to point out here that this was a Chinese owned company. Everything Chinese, from executive to middle management, however 90% of junior staff comprises of desperate blacks, browns and inbetweens which I was to join.
My sad two days with said company (before I resigning), was training with the Indonesian team. The daily tasks was to build several profiles of beautiful Indonesian ladies with stock photos and random names, then the team leader would give us about 100 leads - phone numbers and names (at a single time) of random people based in Indonesia which we use in an attempt to reel them in by chatting them up on WhatsApp, the mission is to get them to subscribe to 2 YouTube channels (we send them the links and they have to send us a screenshot back). All based on the promise of monetary payment to the client.
After the client/victim is baited successfully, we are to transfer the client to another department on Telegram who then proceeds to “supposedly” pay them.
Phase 2 is where the actual scam takes place!
I must admit I was not privy to witnessing this first hand as we worked in silos and I did not spend enough time (only two days) to understand the full structure but I was inquisitive enough while being mindful not to spook any suspicion about my curiosity on the operations and methods used.
The information I gathered from speaking to other junior staff is that phase 2 first step comprises of a procession payment “problem” explaining to the victim/client why the payment cannot be executed at that time. They then ask the victim to download an app for easier transfer payment. This app, a remote access trojan, or malware is the gateway to the device and personal information thereby granting the company access. They then ask for an initial transfer of a minuscule amount for payment gateway verification, which reveals banks account details, credit card details and access to OTP/Emails.
And just like that, the victims account is drained or locked out.
Searching online, I came across reported similar cases where other types of the same WhatsApp/Telegram scam instructs the victim their payment is to be invested on their behalf and then luring the victim to deposit more money on the promise of increasing their holdings. Of course, once the deposit it can never be withdrawn.
From navigating and critiquing the Nigeria scamming cyber cafes to escaping the Chinese scam industry clutches. I never knew Nigerians/Ghanians, etc were junior at this game. In fact, the appears Nigerians are learning from them.
Apparently, this is not only new but an industrial scale operation as reported by Vice News.
Mind you, in this company everyone works a 12 hour shift with only one day off per month and to make matters worse, they hold on to your passport while you are working for them so one is beholden to them.
All this was not a pressing issue but what I could not settle with was the moral and ethical question.
Once I found out my daily responsibilities, I could not comprehend or justify earning money while partaking in this unethical act.
What really bothered me and still bothers me is how readily the lower staff expressed “this is hustle culture” attitude and justified doing the job to “make/save money or survive”. This saddened me and reminded me of the lengths folks would go just to make a buck all for an illusion.
Absolutely no one I spoke to at the company even mentioned the ethical elephant in the room.
A deep part of me understands why our governments treat us terribly. It’s a sad reality however we do deserve the leaders we get. When the society is corrupt, inept, dumbed down and low quality, the leadership will reflect the same qualities.
Our meme world is one of scams/frauds/corruption/graft/lies/manipulation/trickery and conspiracies, but I remain tonic to this.
Back to square one for me, posting, applying for jobs, doubling down on where my conscience takes me and betting it will carry me through to the right environment where doing virtuous things is the order of the day.
- Ope
I was working in the bowels of the Wells Fargo mortgage chop shop in 2012, packaging mortgages in default to sell to Fanny and Freddie at $100 cents on the dollar. Most of those loans never should have been allowed. The bank got super rich selling those loans, when the economy blew up in 2008, the Fed and Treasury made them whole, then they made more money selling the foreclosures. The only scam in the history of the world that was greater was/is Covid.
http://offthegridmpls.blogspot.com/2012/12/fired.html
Great post, Ope! In my brief foray into online dating (more browsing than dating), I started with Plenty of Fish based on a friend's experience. Because of the low barrier to entry, it had been taken over by scammers. I complimented one guy on the kitten in his photo and he responded, "Yes, as the Bible says, the way to me is through kitty!" I clarified that I was allergic to cats and he said "Just kidding, kitty is dead!" That was when I did some research and found that was the leading source of online fraud and yes, came mostly from Nigeria.
However I've wanted to do a post making your point that legal scams are far more profitable and prevalent. Everywhere you turn, someone's trying to get your money. But in the other cases, they have the police and gov't backing them up and ousting you from your house to take it over.
In the YT I made yesterday, I refer to things that have been going wrong for my daughters. I didn't specify that for my middle daughter, it included having her purse stolen with her phone and credit cards, which has included accessing her iCloud and going through her photos, numerous scams, etc. They are professionals. When I put it on Substack today, I'll link to your article.
And I'll do a future episode on how my caret system makes fraud impossible, both legal and illegal, local and international.
And at least Nigerian hustle culture (I think I first heard that on an Anthony Bourdain episode, a fallen hero) has given us Afro-Beats with the online scams! Sam and Elizabeth just gave us bad hair and fake positivity, respectively.