THE DEVIL’S CHATROOM---- Secrets Of Cyberspace Crime! : Part 2

 continued from part 1

Largely enticed at the prospects of getting rich overnight rather than the desire to help, those involved would be stripped to the last penny. They would be connected to a fake bank where they would soon begin to lose money through remittances in an attempt to have the said funds transferred. Unknown to the victim, it would be the same fraudster, Benson, and a friend, playing the role of bank manager and his associate.

In some instances, he played the role of a beautiful girl looking for a man to marry online. He had hundreds of nude pictures from pornographic sites. These pictures he used in fooling men. In no time, he would begin proposing to travel to the potential victim’s country. Here is when the scam would really get going, as he would be asking for money to help with air tickets and other itineraries.

In yet another strategy, he had sophisticated illegal software which he secretly installed on public computers in cyber cafes. Back home, he would be able to follow every transaction by every person using the bugged computer. Such information he would use to dupe people through impersonation.

He had many people on his hit list and, unlike many of his colleagues in the trade, he netted the biggest catches. He even internationalised his network, with people representing him in other countries, particularly Europe.

He had become a master par excellence in his trade, to the extent that he duped people from across the globe of huge sums of money, which he deposited in various bank accounts holding tens of thousands of US Dollars.

Unknown to Benson, it was the evil spirits connected to the family idols that had possessed him and aided his nefarious gimmicks.

No Free Lunch With The Devil Satan gives with one hand and snatches back with the other. It did not matter how much money he made, he squandered it on beer and women – patronising bars and strippers. He started throwing the money around, as if it were scrap paper.

As he caused others to suffer, the demon also caused him to suffer. At one point, he was arrested while collecting $5,000 USD at a money transfer agency. Sometimes, he spent months in prison and would lose all of his ill-gained money in trying to get out.

The risky and evil life he led, defrauding people, resulted in a life fueled by fear and playing hide and seek with the police wherever he went. He returned to Nigeria and strange things started to happen under the influence of the crafty Idigun.

If he bought a car, he would ride it for a few weeks and it would develop mechanical problems. The more money he made, the more the problems. When he tried to invest in land, he lost everything. He would spend huge sums of money to purchase land and, from nowhere, another person would come with documents, claiming ownership of the land. He started building a house but clashes over the property led him to abandon the project after investing a large amount.

He also had been at the receiving end of evil attacks, dreaming of the two family idols, Idigun and Olokun, fighting over him. Idigun would have two heads, a human and a dog’s, while Olokun appeared with human male and female heads.

continued here

THE DEVIL’S CHATROOM: Secrets Of Cyberspace Crime! : Part 1

It is clear that the devil has infiltrated social media to perpetrate the most heinous activities one can dream of. The Internet, a good resource and networking base, has unfortunately become a conduit for the most sophisticated crimes in the world. Many banks and corporations have lost huge sums of money, while many individuals have been duped of their hard-earned cash by people they met on the cyber-network. The executor comes in sheep’s clothing, seeking friendship and later asking for what would appear a very innocent favour, just to deceive and strike a vicious blow when one least expects.

Such was the scandalous lifestyle of Benson, a Nigerian living in Ivory Coast. Born in 1976 in the midwest of Nigeria, he grew up to become an Internet fraudster. But behind the mischief was another malevolent being – a demon, which gave him the knack for hacking and raiding the Internet to perpetrate terror.

Born and raised in a polygamous and idol-worshipping home of four mothers, Benson was the first born from his mother’s side. From a very young age, he watched his father serve an iron god known as Idigun, while his mother had her own deity, Olokun, a marine spirit. Unwillingly, he would join the family in an infamous ritual, which involved bludgeoning dogs, cooking and eating them in a sacrificial act to their family gods.

Little did he know that although he detested such diabolical exercises, the two idols had nonetheless possessed him and would soon begin to torment him through criminal acts such as taking of illicit drugs. He also found himself lusting for women wherever he went, and joined one of the most notorious cult groups, Black Axe, while at university.

It was through this bad company that he was introduced to Internet fraud, at a time when he needed breakthrough, which was hard to come by. For 13 years, powered by the family idols, he prowled the Internet. He patronised dating sites, searching for potential victims, on the pretext of looking for love. When the friendship gathered steam, matured and trust was established, the unsuspecting victims would be cunningly defrauded of their money.

Sometimes, he would use search engines to look for email addresses of naive individuals. He would send them emails with touching stories they would fall for. He had a deceitful template he would send out in bulk, depicting a girl in her twenties who owned millions of dollars left for her by her wealthy late father. This girl would be looking for someone to help her transfer the funds from a dormant account to a safer off-shore account. Whoever agreed to help her would receive a hefty financial reward. Often, the girl would hail from a war-torn country and her father, a former top government official or private individual, but one who was filthy rich before his death or assassination. Blindfolded by the smell of easy money, gullible people would not see what hit them the moment they got involved.

Another format depicted a sick old woman whose husband, also a rich man, left huge sums of money for her. About to die, she would seek to give the money away. She would have about one month to live and before she died, she must have the money transferred to charity or otherwise. As soon as a person showed interest, the game of defrauding would start.

To be continued:

Culled from the first issue of SCOAN magazine READ US.