Ikechukwu
Nnaji is 21-year-old man, born in the Ajegunle area of Lagos State. He’s from
Abia State. Nnaji has a disarming smile, and it flashes like a hundred watt
bulb, illuminating his handsome face.
Nnaji is small in stature, earning him
the nickname, ‘Small’ among his friends.
He said
that his parents relocated to Abia State five years ago after his father lost his
work as a factory worker. His parents agreed to relocate to their village after
his mom’s fruit selling business couldn’t support them anymore.
While his
parents and other siblings prepared to leave Lagos for good, Nnaji’s uncle
asked him to come and live with him.
He
recalled: “Uncle Aaron is a commercial bus driver with three children. He
promised to support me through my secondary school. I finished my secondary
school after two years with my uncle. My parents relocated to our hometown. My
uncle tried his best possible to pay for my West African Certificate Examination
fees (WACE) and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). I was not able
to pass my first JAMB examination to study Accounting. During that period,
things changed for my uncle; everything went from bad to worse. I had no choice
than to start caring for myself.”
He said
that one day, as he was heading to Mile 2, he saw one of his friends, Mathew.
Mathew lives at Ikotun-Egbe area of Lagos State. Nnaji quickly summed Mathew up
with a glance. He noticed that the latter looked and dressed rich.
He said:
“Mathew was looking good. He held big smartphones. His shirt was expensive. By
then I was looking for whatever job to do in order to keep body and soul
together. Even in my uncle’s house, life had become too tough and to feed
tougher. I often used to go to construction sites to seek menial work. At such
sites, I make N1500 for serving bricklayers with sand and cement, which they
had mixed. And other days, there wouldn’t be work at all.”
He got
chatting with Mathew and they quickly exchanged snippets of information about
mutual friends. Along the line, Nnaji disclosed his financial constraints, his
uncle’s challenges and his search for a job. Mathew listened, slapped Nnaji’s shoulders
sympathetically and asked him to meet him at Ikotun.
Excited,
Nnaji told his uncle about his chanced meeting with Mathew, and that he was
sure of landing a job soon. But Uncle Aaron was not excited, he looked troubled
and warned Nnaji to be careful.
Nnaji
narrated: “I went to Mathew’s place, where he introduced me to a guy called Eze
Ego (King of Money). Mathew said that Eze Ego was looking for boys, who would
work for him. Initially, the only thing I heard was that the job has to do with
internet. And then I got to know what it was about. I heard that a lot of boys
were doing it.”
Revealing
how yahoo apprentices are recruited and cybercrime operations carried out,
Nnaji said that the big boys (bosses/old hands), usually place vacancies on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, seeking for apprentices. But only the
initiated knows what such post means.
He said: “People
will see the post, but wouldn’t understand what they were reading. Only those
in that line of business understand such posts. Matthew is works for another
person, but when he saw the post, he knew what Eze Ago wanted. And luckily for
me, I ran into him on that fateful day. He linked me to Eze Ago. I have been an
apprentice to Eze Ago now for two years. He is nice. We’re three boys with Eze
Ago; he treats us like a family member. He recently got married early last year.
The wife also likes us.”
Asked the duties
of a Yahoo apprentice, Nnaji replied: “I’m the one that used to cook in the
house before his wife came. He trusts me because we are from the same state.
Also, when he lost his mother, I traveled with him and assisted in his mother’s
burial. I do wash his car every morning and sometimes wash his clothes.”
He further
added: “In the last two years, I have traveled home to see my mother. My boss
supports me with money and encourages me to buy things for my mother. He knows
my father is late. Yes, my father died after he and mother relocated to our village.
My mother used to tell my boss to take care of me. My boss is like an elder brother me. He provides everything we need to use in his
home, including laptops that we use. He also feeds us.”
He
explained that in the course of the training, an apprentice will be introduced
to different sites on the internet and different cybercrimes.
Listing some
of the jobs, Nnaji said: “There are dating sites jobs, bank account hackings,
selling of things like cameras, phones, others on the internet.”
Beaming
with pride, Nnaji brags: “I was able to learn the job within a short time. My
boss soon made me the manager. I made money for him through posting of cameras,
phones, pianos, on websites we created. When people see the posts,
they will have interest, thinking the items on the websites actually exist.
“They will
make payment online, we then generate tracking number for them. They believe
that the goods they paid for are real. We will promise to deliver the items
within three days. After the three days had elapsed, the clients will call to
complain that they had not seen the goods. We’ll tell them that the
Nigerian Customs had impounded their goods that they need to make a small
payment, which our office will use to resolve the issue. That’s how we’ll tell
all sorts of lies until the customer gets frustrated, tired and stops calling. We
also have jobs, were we go on dating sites and promise women marriage.”
Asked how
fraudsters make money from proposing marriages to strangers, Nnaji laughed and
disclosed: “ You simply come up with lies that your mom or dad is sick and that
you need a certain amount of money to pay for his/her medical bills.”
He
continued: “There are many systems we use.
Other boys are doing well for my boss. Some boys had been apprentices to
my boss and had left. Some left because they couldn’t meet up or didn’t
understand the job.”
How long will
an apprentice needs to understudy his boss before leaving to start his own
business? Nnaji responded: “I’m already saving towards getting an accommodation
and a laptop.”
Explaining
how he used to make his own money, while being an apprentice, Nnaji stated:
“Sometimes I hit deals without the
knowledge of my boss. The proceeds goes into my bank account.”
He added:
“Sometimes, if we make a good deal, my boss gives us money. It’s a sign of
appreciating efforts and commending us for a job well-done. My boss is better
than other bosses in this line of work. Most of these bosses, their boys are
suffering. Whenever such bosses discover their boys did something behind them,
they beat them as they are criminals. They usually send them away empty
handed.”
Nnaji said
that among all the different ways of cybercrimes that he had studied, only one
appeal most to him. This is hacking of people’s accounts.
He said, “That’s
where you make more money. There’s money there than posting images of
nonexistent goods on fake websites.”
He said
that hacking accounts will fetch him enough money to further his university
education and also take care of his mother and siblings. He admitted that he
was already responsible for the payment of his siblings’ school fees.
Sunday
Israel, 24, said that he worked as an apprentice for two years, but is now a
master of himself. He said that when it was time for him to leave, his boss was
not too happy about it. He had made so much money for his boss, hence his
reluctance to let him go.
According
to him, he excelled in posting fake items on websites. And when it was time to
leave, he got his accommodation, slowly extricating himself from his boss. His
boss suggested that they should team up, hit money via internet and share the
loot. The idea didn’t appeal to Israel; he wanted to be his own master.
His words:
“I had already learnt the job from my boss. But he didn’t want to let me go
because I was very good on the job. I told him I must go. I have trained four
boys who are doing well on their own. Sometimes, I make $200, $300 and
$500. When you change the money to naira, it amounts to much. I thank God for
his blessings because He has been blessing me through this job. I didn’t have
anybody until I came across my boss at one of our friends’ birthday party.”
To Israel,
his boss is practically his fairytale godfather, who literarily used his magic
wand to turn him from a pauper to a financially able person.
Gathering
his thoughts, he said that his life changing story started in 2012 after he met
James, his boss. They were introduced and both chatted. They had an agreement,
leading to Israel going to live with James. Incidentally, James two younger
brothers were also living in that same
apartment. While one of James brother
was schooling, the other was a trader.
Israel said: “I was with them from 2012 to 2013. I finally got my
accommodation and bought my first laptop. When I was leaving, in spite of his
initial reluctance, my boss threw a send-forth party for me. And then I started
running my own business. Although I’m no longer his apprentice, but I sometimes
used to assist him to, ‘pick money.’ I have a white woman, whom I promised to
marry who used to assist me to collect money from bank and send to me. Some of
us have bank accounts in USA, and UK for receiving money when payment is made
for goods we posted.”
Uche Ejim is
the breadwinner of his family. He has an elder brother and two younger
siblings. His mom and dad are very much alive. Ejim started learning the job
when he was in Senior Secondary School (SS1) and today, has three boys working
for him. He recently bought a car and got a three-bedroom apartment for his parents
and siblings.
Ejim said:
“ I suffered greatly when I was an apprentice. I learnt the job from our
neighbour in our community. That my boss is very rich now. My boss always sends
me on errands, and whenever he noticed that I was humble and didn’t
complain much, he decided to teach me YahooYahoo. We are into dating and
posting of goods for people to buy. Posting of goods is the simplest job,
because people always buy things online and make payments without seeing the
goods. My boss does his posting at midnight. I always wake up to watch what he does
until I started posting myself.”
Another
apprentice, Segun, said that he had to run away from home because he was not really
interest in schooling. Segun is now an apprentice with a rich boss called Chigozie.
Segun and other five boys are learning under Chigozie.
Our correspondent also
had an interaction with a boss. The boss said: “It’s the situation in the
country that pushed many of us into internet fraud. Whenever some of the boys
in the community see the manner yahoo boys spend money, they naturally wish to
be like us. Many young people used to approach us. They beg us to teach them,
that they are interested in learning yahoo yahoo because they too want to
become rich and take care of their parents.”
He further stated: “Whenever
these lads come to us, we give them terms and conditions. One of the conditions
is that they should take an oath that they wouldn’t betray us by divulging our
secrets. Another condition is that when they are done with the training, whatever
money they make in their transactions, will be shared into two equal parts. Sometimes,
it takes six months or one year before an apprentice can ‘graduate.’ But as
masters, we don’t show them the whole tricks on how we collect money from
victims. The more they grow in the trade, the more they know the tricks by
themselves.”
The boss explained that throughout the period the
apprentices understudy’s a master, he will sleep in the master’s house and work
from 12a.m. to 3a.m.
“Some of the boys, who I initiated into Yahoo Yahoo,
have also taught other boys how to do it,” said the boss.
He disclosed: “It was poverty that pushes most
of us into the trade. Everyone wants to take care of their family members.”
He revealed that some of the apprentices are also used
as, “catchers.’
He said: “This means that whenever we want to
collect money, some of our magga
(victims) send to us, we use them. We use them to avoid being arrested by the
police in the bank. We don’t just collect
the money easily in bank, we work with some bank officials. They facilitate the
withdrawals for us. We used to have an agreement with the bank official on the
percentage to give him/her. If we reneged on our agreement, the person will deal
with us the next time we come for such a transaction.”
He stressed: "It’s not easy making money from
the internet as many people think. We go through a lot in order to convince ‘magga’ to part with his/her money. The
disadvantage in training apprentices is that most of them end up knowing more than
the bosses.”
The boss told our correspondent that he was trained by
his elder brother who has relocated to Malaysia. He said that most internet
fraudsters are relocating to Malaysia. The boss tells the story of how he
succumbed to the world of cybercrime after graduating from higher institution.
He said: "When I graduated from Moshood Abiola
Polytechnic, I searched for job for years, without succeeding. But my brother,
who dropped out of school suddenly became the breadwinner of our family. That
immediately prompted me to follow in his footsteps. I became his apprentice. I
learnt the trade from him for six months. I was taught some of the rudiments of
how to track a client online. It’s not everyone you see online that you chase.
"Unfortunately, my brother did not teach me
everything about online fraud. He said I would learn when I’m developing
on the trade. What my brother told me pushed me further to seek for more
knowledge. Presently, I have two persons I’m training. I know what we’re doing
is not right or legal, but we have to survive. Moreover, it’s better than armed
robbery. My joining the internet fraud is with a purpose. My intention was to
take care of my parents and used the proceeds to establish myself. The first
money I made was about N2 million. I gave my parents half of the money. I
have spent about five years in this business. Cybercrime fraud is difficult.
Sometimes, if you mount pressure on your victim, the person will get angry and
refused to send a dime. With such difficult people, we go extra mile to get
what we want from them, even if it requires making sacrifices to appease the
gods. I must tell you the truth; those of us who are into internet fraud are
not generous in giving money. When the money we want to collect is much, we then
use the services of a bank official. The official will help us to collect the
money. Through internet fraud, I have acquired property in Ogun State. I,
however will quit the business after I get married. I don’t want my children to
see me doing it.”
Another boss, who introduced himself as Scurry, said
that he was trained by his room-mates when he was an undergraduate. Since then,
he had been making money.
Scurry said: "When I graduated from school, I
did not bother to search for a job; I had already made money. I believe
most of us went into internet fraud because our government is not fair to us.
There are no jobs in the country. We are also having challenges in doing the
internet stuff in Nigeria. I travelled to Kenya last year because of the
regular power supply in that country. I have also been to Malaysia,
South Africa and I’m planning to go to Egypt. It’s easier to get money through
their banks. Due to the recent clamp down on cybercrime operators in Nigeria by
EFCC, most of us have moved out of the country to better places, where we can
operate without hassles. We do travel to Europe, but we don't go to Asia
countries except Malaysia. We go there as students who want to study.”
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