I interviewed Nigerian Journalist Sam Olukoya for my story on the latest scams to hit Craigslsit. Only 3 sentences from the interview made it into the final story, below is the whole thing:

Eric: What can you tell me about the internet scammers in Nigeria?

Sam: The internet scammers in Nigeria are mainly young Nigerians who want to get rich quick. They range from the primary school drop outs to university graduates. The scammmers have increased over the years as they are apparently making a lot of money from the scam.

Eric: How do they operate?

Sam: They use the cybercafes to send scam mails. In many cybercafes, majority of those you will find there are likely to be scammers. They are particularly active at night when security agents are not likely to disturb them. That is why the cybercafes are normally full at night during what they call night browsing. They range from the one man scammers to the more sophisticated ones who have networks around the world.  

Eric: What is it about Nigeria that it seems that so much of the scams attempted online originate there?

Sam: This has to do with the long tradition of internet scam in the country. Similarly the owners of cybercafes hardly frown at their activities.  Many cybercafes actually rely on the scammers for their survival. But I think the most important thing is the craze among many Nigerians especially the young ones to get rich quick. Very many people have become rich overnight from internet scam and this seems to encourage more and more people to take to the crime.

Eric: Was anything like this sort of scam occurring in Nigeria before the advent of the internet?

Sam: Yes the fraud was there before the internet. At that time they were sending letters by post. But the internet made it more attractive because it is cheaper and can be used to send mails faster and en mass. The internet is also safer. When scam mails were being sent by post, many of them were intercepted.

Eric: Is there a common misconception in the western or main stream press about the Internet scammers in Nigeria that you can help correct?

Sam: The misconception is that most Nigerians are fraudsters, that is not true, only a few are into the scam.

Eric: Is the Government there in Nigeria doing anything about these scams?

Sam: The government in its fight against the scams set up the Economic and Financial Crimes commission, EFCC. The agency has made a lot of arrests. Unfortunately not much convictions have been made in comparison to the level of the crime.

Eric: Any thing else you can add to the email to provide me with context?  I’m writing this story because I found a rental apartment listing for Berkeley California, far below the usual price, on craigslist.org. The “landlord” is in Nigeria asking for 1st months rent + security deposit to be wired via Western union. Had you heard about this new twist on the older scam?

Sam: The scam keeps changing once people refuse to fall for a particular trick. But what has basically not changed is the fact that it is an advanced fee fraud. Those they target are always asked at some stage to make some advance payment. Any deal requiring advance payment should be viewed with suspicion.