HOW TO DETECT INTERNET SCAMS
thousands/millions of dollars, so you send it. Then one excuse after the other comes rolling in and you’re parting with more and more money, and before you know it “you’re the Mugu”
Another version of the Next of Kin evil scheme, would be to receive an e-mail by ‘Mr X’ who is based in another country. He informs you about how a certain rich man ( a foreign business partner ) deposited a staggering amount in their bank for the expansion of some business deals in Africa, while he was and still is, say, the foreign operations manager. Unfortunately, the man, and his wife, died in an air crash and since they had no children, and no one had come forward to claim same, he was offering you the opportunity of doing that. He tells you to open a new bank account and forward the details to him, and to also include your name, address, phone number, age, occupation and other personal details that would be useful in withdrawing the amount. He tells you not to worry, he’s got everything worked out and after the money transfer has been made, he’ll resign, meet with you, and split the money 50/50. You decide to play ball , and he begins to bring up one excuse or the other to extort money from you, and hey he’s got you “You’re the Maga”.
THE WIDOWER ANTICS
The trick is always aimed at those who want to ‘date/marry’ someone ‘over the net’ (that is not to say that all dating sites are illegal or don’t give the desired results some crave for) but it’s a strategy they effectively use. I particularly do not encourage people to date over the net or to be swept off their feet by love declarations and marriage proposals (my opinion) for the following reasons:
1) People are not really who they seem to be over the net
2) The net is a façade that hides their true identify/character
3) How do you know the picture of the person is his true self, you’d be surprised at how these idle minds put up fake pictures and impersonate people
4) Anybody can write any thing on the net to impress you, you can’t tell if he truly likes/loves you, and you can’t attest to his character
5) You could be chatting/dating an ex-con, a criminal, pervert, rapist, wife beater, murderer, psychotic, who just wants to play on your emotions
6) Most dating/love relationships, oftentimes than not, takes place in different geographical axis, the man in one country and the woman in another. It’s safer for them that way, after all, you can’t hop in to a plane just to go to his country and when you finally do, he’s made all the necessary arrangements for you to believe in his tell tales.
Now the widower “Mr X” doesn’t reveal his true identity through the picture, so he becomes an impostor, and takes the identity of someone else (having hacked into the person’s profile over the net) from another country. He pastes the picture on a dating site he has created, and since he’s good looking, “lonely Miss Y” from another country sees the picture and sends him a flattery e-mail, but the letter conveys a tone of disbelief. ‘Mr X’ quickly responds by sending pictures of himself to her box, his profile, and other vital information he senses would be of paramount interest to her . She’s satisfied and begins a relationship with supposedly ‘Mr X’. One day he cooks up a story about how he’s stranded at the airport in “N country” and needs her to send 0 to help him out. He designs and sends her counterfeit flight tickets, hotel bills etc and instructs her to send it in the name of “Mr Z” (his accomplice). She’ll do anything for the love of her life and sends same. It’s one excuse or the other after that, and she keeps on sending money and never gets to meet him, until she realises she’d been tricked, but it’s too late “She’s the Mugu”
Credit/ATM Cards, Bank Accounts
“Mr X” through software generators, gets access to people’s IDs and with their credit card information has access to their bank details. He logs on to the bank’s website, types in the information, and transfers the money into his account. It was used mainly when internet facilities began to thrive in Nigeria. Currently, e-mails and even text messages via mobile phones, are sent by these lazy drones to people, especially bank and Telecoms customers, requesting them to send their ATM details, bank account details, PIN numbers, to redeem prizes or for some other unrealistic reasons. In a swift reaction, the Banks and Telecoms companies have alerted the public to disregard such e-mails and text messages, and not to divulge such vital information, as they would never tell customers to do that.