Online scam: How innocent individuals were been lured and fell into the hands of internet fraudsters -By: Taofeeq Imam & Yusuf Abdulbasit Hozaifah

The internet is the vastly used communication network ever invented. It’s used by millions of humans and machines every second of every day. There are positive and awful things happening on the internet, and among the nasty things are ongoing attempts to scam innocent people out of their money or identities.

Certainly, wherever there’s a slight opportunity of making some easy money, you can be sure that criminals lay ready to pounce. The internet brings with it many such opportunities, and fraudsters appear to be waiting around every virtual corner with the latest in online scams.

While some forms of internet fraud have gotten very complicated, even some of the older, less intelligent plays still actually work. If people know more about the types of scams taking place and what to look out for, we can hopefully save at least some people from getting extorted out of their hard-earned cash. 

An account takeover can transpire when a fraudster or computer criminal pretences as a genuine customer, controls an account and then makes unauthorized transactions.

Any account could be taken over by fraudsters, including bank, credit card, email and other service providers.

Online banking accounts are usually taken over as a result of phishing, spyware or malware scams. This is a form of internet crime or computer crime.

Fraud has been committed if money has been lost.

Victims of Social media scam handles and platforms reveal their ordeal,

A victim of a social media platform by the name  Aisha Shuaib babata has narrated how she got scammed by an Internet fraudster identified as Atogwe Eragbe Wisdom on the 28th of October , 2021, Babata an Undergraduate student of Kwara State University was convinced to send the sum of 2,000 to get 4000 to Eragbe wisdom(Fraudster).

“I was scammed by a stranger who happened to chat me up on whatsapp , I saved his number and voewed his status constantly, then I was inspired to send #2000 to get #4000 , I sent him the money but I neither get the 2, 000 nor 4, 000 as at this present time the  money is yet to be retrieved .

Also ,  A victim identified as Felix Kajad an Undergraduate Student of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto was scammed by an Online Vendor who happens to introduced himself as a Coupon seller on Video mine  Platform.

” He introduced himself as a videomine Coupon seller unfortunately I couldn’t recall his name , I sent him 3, 000 but he blocked me and refused to send me my Coupon , The Popularly vedio mine inveested platform which was relaunched early August where a lot of Nigerians have rushed and invest into it although it is a legit platform where you invest 3, 000 and refer 2 people to get 20, 000 , Unfortunately , Some used this as a method to explore individuals by introducing themselves as Coupon seller, I leave him to God because I know God is above everything , Felix lamented”. 

Some days later, A Facebook account owner named Abdulrahman Rahma’s account was hacked by a yet Identified Fraudster who happens to be an hausa by tribe, Two popular friends of Rahmah was duped 10, 000 and 4, 000 respectively , the victims were inspired thinking it was rahmah that was demanding money from them , they were moved to send this money since they know Rahmah is a very nice person to them and they should be of Help.

“One of the victims identified as Samuel a student of Usmanu Danfodiyo Unversity Sokoto narratedly send 10,000 to this Fraudster thinking it was Rahmah.

” I sent him 10, 000 naira and send him the receipt as well, all my thought was that Rahma urgently in need of that money as of that moment since she’s a cool friend I had to find a way and help her with the money Unknowingly, It wasn’t Rahmah but a fraudster I caller her to confirm whether she has seen the Alert but she said she wasn’t the one requesting for the money , Samuel felt sad about this due to the situation of this country where we all know it is so difficult to some individuals to afford three( 3)square meals a day, At the time of investigating the fraudster registered FCMB account that bears a female’s name Nasamu Zainab Zainab.

Mubarak Adekunle an Undergraduate student of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto,  also identified as Rahma’s freind was asked to sell his instagram account to Rahmah , thinking it was Rahmah they negotiated for 2, 000 per account , he wanted to sell to account to her making 4, 000.

“Do You have an Instagram account to sell “He asked I didn’t wanted to sell it before but I just have to, I sent him my Log in details but he failed to send me the money and never chatted me up , I called my freind to confirm but she said her account has been hacked, Seriously Only God knows how many individuals he would have scammed through an innocent girls account , At the time of investigating the fraudster changed her facebook name to Mhiz Lola bearing a female’s Yoruba Name.

Speaking with Uthman Muhamad Moddibo an Undergraduate student from Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil , Kano State reporting to us that he was defrauded with the sum amount of 5, 000 naira , he was introduced to an online investing business by a Casual friend who also invested but the both got nothing at the end.

One of the fraudsters with a facebook name Jamil Barde messaged one of the reporters and told him he his looking for an instagram account to buy, on the process of investigations, he was bargained with and we resolve on the amount to pay, he said he want to confirm the account details, login details was sent to him, within a minutes he has already change the details of the account, hoping to do that and blocked me, fortunately enough he was outsmarted.

Saint joseph, another victim of this awful scenerio also shared his remorse on how he was Duped using fake alert, he said; the guy messaged me that he want to do graphic design, we negotiated and we agreed on price, after everything was done and sent to him, he send the money hoping it was real, that afternoon I went to the bank to withdraw the money but unfortunately, it pop up as insufficient fund. I was shocked and went to the bank to complain and they told me no money entered to the account, its probably fake alert after I shown them the bank alert.

A fake bank alert also known as alert flashing involves using a short message service that mimics a bank’s transaction alert to fleece an unwary victim. 

How the internet fraudsters do scam  with fake alert.

They would ask for the account numbers and names of the sellers after buying goods from them.

After this,they will use the information to generate their details by dialling his bank’s USSD code. After generating the recipient’s name, they will  alter the old bank alert sent to him by his bank and change the date, amount, and resend the same to the recipient.

Reporter’s Advice:

Always try and hear people’s opinion on something before you take a decision , if a stranger or non-stranger introduce something to you try as much as possible to inform your freinds or elders and hear their opinions on it before taking up a decision , same thing applicable to facebook victims , call your friends to confirm whether they are the one you are chatting with , People are now into facebook and whatsapp hacking also to those who accounts got hacked make sure you inform your freinds to help you report the person Publicly on facebook inorder to prevent your innocent freind.

Below are the evidences, picture and chats with the victims.