Kin sa ti lowo, without my daddy money, kin sa ti lowo.
This particular verse of the Living Things song by 9ice was a popular saying in 2017.
The song was meant for only one set of people – The Yahoo guys. The Yahoo guys were everywhere in 2017. It was like a movement. They kept on multiplying in 2017. They didn’t stop at that though.
They kept on disturbing every street and community they’re found in with their assets. From the latest luxurious cars to designer wears to flamboyant houses. It was just too oppressing for those who had decent jobs.
There are stories of how in a not too populated street, Yahoo boys bought lands, built houses and started living there.
There are cases of teenagers and secondary school students also been involved in internet scams. Theirs is small scale, mainly Facebook lotto and online dating sites which give them a range of $100-200.
The version of Internet fraud that has earned Nigerians a reputation across the globe started in the final third of the 1990s. Sometime after Yahoo Mail was created in 1997, scammers found that they could replace their hand-written letters with the freedom and immediacy of electronic mail messages, and they moved in droves.
This shift is also why the scammers became known as Yahoo boys, for their preference for Yahoo Messenger, easily the most important tool of their trade.
Nowadays, what mail service they use is about as important as the color of the shirt they wear while making phone calls.
Insignificance doesn’t begin to describe it.
But in the face of this greed and extravagance, and the threats that come with them, more young people are turning to love scams and retail fraud as a means of survival.
