By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D. A new, pernicious Nigerian 419 scam is taking root on Facebook, and Central Bank of Nigeria governor Sanu...
By Farooq A. Kperogi, Ph.D.
A new, pernicious Nigerian 419 scam is taking root
on Facebook, and Central Bank of Nigeria governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and
scores of credulous Nigerians are its latest victims.
In the last couple of months, it has become
fashionable for 419 scam artists to create fake Facebook profiles of prominent
Nigerians and then send friend requests to multitudes of Nigerians on Facebook
(who often feel flattered to be considered worthy of such “big” people’s
friendship). The fake profiles update their statuses frequently and fill their “timelimes”
with genuine photos of the people they impersonate. (The photos are easily
obtainable from Google image search).
After sprinkling a veneer of credibility on their
profiles with photos and status updates (which often attract scores of likes,
shares, and comments from naïve Nigerians) they send private messages to
carefully chosen victims with all kinds of fraudulent propositions.
The propositions range from offering jobs to
unemployed youth for a steep fee, to offering contracts to people who appear to
be well-off (of course, for a huge “kickback,” too). I don’t know how many
people have fallen victim to these scammers, but given the legendary
gullibility of Nigerians (which is kind of ironic for citizens of a country that has earned
notoriety as the scam capital of the world) my sense is that thousands of
Nigerians have been fleeced—and will continue to be fleeced if nothing is done
to stop this scam.
When, some months back, “Sanusi Lamido Sanusi” sent
me a friend request on Facebook, I instantly knew it had to be some debauched
419 scammer hiding behind a cyber mask. A few weeks before the request, I had
written a blistering critique of the CBN governor’s ill-advised plan to convert
some naira bills into coins and to introduce higher denominations into the
economy. Well, the man probably never even read my column, but since I have
never related with him one-on-one I didn’t expect him to send me a friend
request. In any case, as the “Oga at the top,” I should be the one sending him
a friend request. I accepted the request, nonetheless. I did so because I wanted
to study the profile and use it as a case study of the new 419 on Facebook.
Similar fake “Sanusi Lamido Sanusi” Facebook
profiles had appeared and disappeared (one of which was a member of the fanclub that readers of my columns created for me), but this latest one is far and
away the most audacious. At the time of writing this article, it had 4,977friends, 1,754 followers, and over a dozen genuine photos of the CBN governor.
The scammer behind the profile religiously monitors the real Sanusi’s media
engagements and writes status updates to reflect this. This works to redound
to the profile’s credibility.
But the
status updates often lack the elevated diction, verbal exuberance, and
intellectually fashionable phraseology of Sanusi’s prose. But
they have all the stylistic imprints of 419 scam emails: they are usually
riddled with cringe-worthy grammatical errors, make boastful claims to
authority, lack sufficient attention to social and cultural cues, etc. On
occasions, when the fake Sanusi profile attempts to appeal to Muslim and Hausa
friends, it mixes up several linguistic, social, and cultural codes. For
instance, the profile once wished friends “barika dey sallah.” No native Hausa
speaker will ever write that. Ever.
The latest status update that fired up Nigerian
social media circles this week was the one in which Sanusi purportedly railed
against profligacy in the National Assembly and pledged that he would not seek
a second term as CBN governor. It went thus:
“Has [sic]
the Governor of the CBN, i [sic] am only entitled to N25,000 per night for my
local trips and our Senators and House of Reps Members are entitled to N500,000
per night for their local trips, I asked for the cutting down of their salaries
and they all went against my policy. My tenure expire [sic] in June 2014 and i [sic]
want all Nigerians [sic] home and abroad to put all hands on deck to bring in
someone that will surpass me and be able to take the financial matters of our
great nation to the next step.
“Nigeria is not a country where one man can do it
all, it is a collective effort and i [sic] use this medium to call on our youth
from all works [sic] (O.P.C, NIGER-DELTA, THE BAKASSI BOYS, THE NORTHERN'S
[sic]) To stand up and embrace the emancipation [sic]. Long live the Federal
Republic Of Nigeria.”
This error-ridden update got hundreds of likes,
comments, and shares. But what got me particularly nonplussed was that many
otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people believed that the status update, in
spite of its many embarrassing errors, came from Sanusi, arguably the smartest
and most articulate bureaucrat to ever walk the corridors of power in Nigeria.
As someone who has studied the logic and psychology
of cybercrime, I can guess what happened. The sentiments encapsulated in the
status update resonated with lots of Nigerians and, because of this, they chose
to suspend their incredulity and become willing victims in their own fleecing. Before
people fall victim to a fraudulent act on the Internet, they must first succumb
to the temptation— called the false consensus effect— that other people share
their sense of trust and sincerity. On the basis of this false logic, they give
their consent to being swindled. This process is called peripheral route
processing of persuasion.
Some people justified believing the error-ridden status
update by saying it was probably Sanusi’s incompetent assistant who wrote it on
his behalf. Others spruced up the grammar of the status update before sharing it. It’s amazing the
extent people go to nurture and perpetrate the illusions that they cherish.
I am glad that the CBN’s corporate affairs unit has now
officially disowned the profile. But they need to go a
step further and set up genuine social media accounts for the CBN governor.
Cyberia (my coinage for cyber Nigeria) abhors a vacuum.
If you've been a victim of this fraudster, please share your experience in the comments section below. Thanks.
If you've been a victim of this fraudster, please share your experience in the comments section below. Thanks.
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and why would u want us to believe u? that he sanusi did not make such a statement on his alleged fake fbk account? dont just come here writing big, big grammar to defend him..waite 4 him to defend himself. or are u his PA? Mr Dr.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: So you still don't get the message despite all the solid evidences presented? Why don't you click the link at the last paragraph to read the. CBN's press release? Well, it won't surprise me to find that this fake account has a score of criminal allies working in collaboration to ensure acceptability to the public. No wonder you appear 'anonymous' and sound frantic and frustrated to see the public being enlightened on this! For our highly esteemed writer, Dr. Kperogi, I say 'well done' for exposing this group of dimwitted scammers. We all, in one way or the other, have fallen 'promising' victims to such pernicious FB accounts. The Dikko Indes, the SLSs, and the Dangotes have all been used. Your insightful cues cannot be given at a more timely instance. Best.
ReplyDeleteImpersonators invading facebook is not just a Nigerian thing but only Zuckerberg and his admin can arrest the situation. maybe by creating a "verified" tag for prominent profiles just as it is on twitter, where you will not be in doubt anymore because even "the president of the world's" account has been comfirm to be manage by himself
ReplyDelete