Being conned and losing money is never funny. You can ask Mark Angel. No pun intended, and that’s on honestly.
Frankly, no one is immune from scam attempts; even English Premier League clubs. It’s 2025 and if you live in Nigeria, especially Lagos, it can be safe to assume that you have had at least one encounter with a scammer. And as it always goes, it ended in either of two ways—you either got scammed or you didn’t.
Scammers use different formats to con their victims of their very last money. In the late 90s, the Naira and Dollar chemical scam – the type featured in the movie, Coming from Insanity – caught many people off guard. The early 2000s saw the rise of Yahoo! boys. And from the 2010s, fraudulent Fx traders promising ridiculous returns on investment, well documented by the FIJ, carted away with billions of people’s fundzzz as did promoters of multilevel marketing fables like MMM and non-existent agro-investments.
The list goes on but as with legit business people, from generation to generation, conmen also innovate with the times. In this story, we collate common scam formats young people are falling for today, and the last – which targets unsuspecting companies – will shock you.
- The credit/debit card fraud
The “debit card scam” involves the exposure or disclosure of the numbers on your bank card.
On the one hand, some people may ignorantly reveal their card details while forming “we outchea” and making content for the gram. With the advent of the Luhn algorithm, hack whizzes are now able to validate numbers in a card sequence. That’s on “using your hand to do yourself”.
On the other hand, scammers may pose as an officer from your bank and place a call to your registered phone line. Usually, these conmen don’t actually state the bank; it is part of their scheme. They tell you that there is a problem with your account and to rectify it, they need some details like the numbers in front of your card or your BVN.
When you begin to hear this, run o. Some people give them the details they need and in a matter of hours, their account is wiped to the last kobo. Their act is usually believable to unsuspecting users because they will state your name and give you some details about yourself that will clear all reasonable doubt from your mind.
- The credit alert manoeuvre
This scheme plays on the minds of people meaning e fit make pesin run mad. It all starts with a credit alert from an unfamiliar source. Then comes a call from an unknown number, claiming to have sent the money by mistake and begging for you to send it back (how did they get your number if it was a mistake?).
From the goodness of your heart, you ask them to send their account number to give back the money to them. Only for you to peep your account balance from the debit alert and realise that the supposed credit alert you received was fake. Who won’t run mad? In some other cases, they use a recharge card instead of a credit alert. Different format but same scam!
- Fake stores on social media
All ye lovers of online shopping, beware. Another kind of scam that many people have fallen for is buying goods from fake online stores on social media. These scammers create fake accounts in the name of a fake store with fake followers to make it look less suspicious.
They pad the account with pictures of non-existing products and falsified reviews to lure buyers. It is until you finish transferring the money for the product plus delivery that you will realise that you have been scammed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMM_(Ponzi_scheme_company)Suddenly, that account will become non-existent and you have no choice but to chop your L in silence and move on. It could also come in the form of ‘what I ordered vs what I got’ where you pay for an original product but receive a very fake one. The convenience of shopping online is unmatched but for someone who has been scammed, the anxiety of being scammed again outweighs such convenience.
- Money doubling/Ponzi schemes and the congratulatory scam
“Get ₦3,000 with just ₦1000. My friend did it, it worked.” There is no easier way to scam Nigerians than money doubling schemes or Ponzi schemes. Sapa choke everybody so any opportunity to turn that last ₦1000 into something more is a train many people will jump on.
People remember MMM but will still fall victim to the next Ponzi scheme that comes their way. Understand that your money cannot just double on its own without you doing any work or investing it in ‘real’ investments.
- The Sport Betting scam
Have you ever received a random congratulatory message stating that you have been gifted a particular sum of money or a phone? I’m sorry they got you all excited but it is a scam! The message is usually accompanied by a phone number you are supposed to call.
Do not make the mistake of calling that number else, you will end up in the jaws of scammers. Once you give them access to your phone by calling them, they will hack into your accounts or even worse, ask you for a code sent to your phone. Having access to this code is having access to your bank accounts. Beware!
