419 Phone calls. God pass dem

Hello, who is this?.

hello, bros i get one deal for you….

Phone rings…….
Caller : “Hello Johnson, how are you?”
Me : I’m fine. Thank you.
Caller : I’m sure you can’t remember me, can you?
Me : No I can’t. Sorry who am I speaking with?
Caller : Ah ah Johnson its me na, Engineer Nwokolo. I used to work at NEPA in lagos but I was transfered to kaduna recently.
Me : Oh really, ok no probs. I hope you are doing ok there?
Caller : Yes I am. Listen, the noise at your background is too much. Pls call me back because I have something important to tell you.
Me : Ok.
Phone conversation ends.

Well, for those of you who have not noticed, its actually a fraudster trying to dupe me. This really isn’t the first time I’ve gotten such calls but I’m particular about this guy because he’s been trying over and over again and I keep bursting his bubble each time……odeshi (e no enter). We had this phone conversation about 5 days ago and I’m just wondering why he won’t just leave me alone .

How to spot them. Here’s how to spot potential fraudsters on the phone.
Firstly, they usually make effort to create familiarity. This is because there is no familiarity in the first place and that’s one key factor needed to robe a victim in. Familiarity is the net with which they fish. They usually start by saying things like “its me now, Tony. You don’t remember me again?”

Secondly, they are usually in a hurry. This is because they have limited time to convince you and close the deal and besides, the longer they spend on the phone, the easier it’ll become to catch them.

Here are two fun tips I usually use to foil their plans.

1. Burn their airtime (hehehehe). I usually enjoy doing this. Some people cut the line the moment they know its a fraudster but not me (shebi na dem dey find trouble) The moment I decipher that the person on the other end of the line is trying to defraud me, I’ll just act like a “mugu” and play along. I’ll act as though I’m actually falling prey, only to embarass them later. So, our conversation will sound like this;
Phone rings…….
Caller : “Hello johnson, how are you?”
Me : I’m fine. Thank you.
Caller : I’m sure you can’t remember me, can you?
Me : No I can’t. Sorry who am I speaking with?
Caller : Ah ah Johnson its me now, Engineer Nwokolo. I used to work at NEPA in lagos but I was transfered to kaduna recently.
Me : Oh yes Tonero I remember you. Abeg no vex, I changed my phone so your number is no longer here. I’ll save it now. Long time. How u dey na?
Caller : I’m ok. Listen, there is something I want to discuss with you, can you call…
Me : (cuts in) , ehen how about that your sister that was trying to get JAMB admission? How far?
Caller : She hasn’t gotten it yet. Pls listen, there is this deal i want you to ……
Me : (cuts in again) your brother Mike in london nko?, has he finally gotten married? You know say him too like woman.
Caller : He is married now, but that’s not why I am calling. Abeg make I discuss one deal….
Me : (cuts in)..wait o, you say they transfered you to NEPA kaduna. Ah Boko haram nko? How will you survive there?
Caller : Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Listen eh, I want you to …..
Me : (cuts in again) Tony. Abeg no vex, you fit send me N500 recharge card, I want to….(Phone cuts)…..hello?, hello, are you there?

I could go on and on …This is really fun believe me. The painful part is that the fraudster is wasting phone airtime thereby loosing money when the fraud hasn’t even gone through. According to Sound Sultan, “bush meat don catch the hunter” lolll

2. Just allow them talk and talk. I’m sure this Engineer Nwokolo guy knew I was gonna burn his credit so he quickly asked me to call him back. You won’t blame him though ‘cos i don burn the guy credit taya.

I must give him kudos though, at least this time around he decided to change strategy by speaking to me in Igbo. The whole phone conversation was in Igbo unlike previous times when he would speak in english. He had previously called me in times past as Engineer Stephen from Mobil and on that occasion, I guess he had enough airtime so I just allowed him to blab and blab. When he was finally through, he asked me to call him back for more info. I was already almost bursting with laughter. I did call him back though, just to disgrace him but I guess he already knew, and so when I called back, he began threatening me. He said I should at least allow him eat my money small. When I told him off to go and get a job, he then claimed he knew where I was and he would come and get me. I laughed the more

At this point, I know you guys will expect me to chastise fraudsters and advice them to change their ways but I won’t. I’d rather talk to their victims. I often get amazed when I hear that people actually fall prey to these jokers. Are you kidding me? You mean someone just calls you out of the blues and you actually lost money to his/her story? Are they really that convincing or you were just greedy? Yes that’s it, greed !!!

Most 419 pranks actually succeed as a result of the greed of the victim and not the expertise of the fraudster. If someone tells you to pay N100,000 into an account and tells you that you’ll win N10,000,000 the next week, and you actually did……I don’t even know the word for you other than greed. If you weren’t greedy, you wouldn’t be that dumb to believe that story. Greed will always blind your eyes to the intended fraud.

So, rather than believe every cock and bull story about money-doubling, just focus on your legitimate job, work hard, work smart and look up to God for genuine wealth.

As for my friend, Engineer Nwokolo, incase you are reading this, I have a song for you by Phyno,for all your efforts and it goes like this;

“Ndi ara, ndi ara,
lélè, lekwa ha,
Ha cho’irim, ha cho’irim,
Ghost mode, them no go see me”

English translation ;
“Crazy people, crazy people
Look, look, look at them,
They want to eat me x2
Ghost mode, they no go see me”

Fill me in guys. Leave a comment about any fraud experience you’ve had….Thats all for now guys. Stay tuned for more….and remember, “Every man will have his day someday”