Digital Ritualistic Scam or Outdated Long Con?
A typical Nigerian knows beyond reasonable doubt that life is much more spiritual than it is physical or at the very least as spiritual as it is physical. The ones who pretend to be "atheists" wouldn't dare stone or disrespect an old Ijebu woman.
In 2018, I can still remember hearing rumours of people bleeding from the eyes, ears, nose and mouth while on a call till they die.
In 2017, rumours spread about people who picked up calls and minutes later while still on the call, they disappeared.
In late 2015, I can still remember rumours about people who got called and gave everything they owned to the caller or did everything the caller asked them to do.
Years ago, I can still remember a picture of a Babalowo (Yoruba diviner/high priest/herbalist) Using a laptop. The picture was tagged with the caption, "The gods are now online."
There is a Yoruba song that says "ti aye ba nyi, ka ma baye yi" which means when the world moves we should move with the world. The dubious money-makers have definitely listened.
The ritualistic scamming industry has evolved over the years, it started from the famous 419, to yahoo, to yahoo-plus to yahoo-plus-plus to whatever it is now called.
Yahoo became less profitable because the market became saturated with other scammers, the targets usually referred to as clients became wiser, and they had to work harder to make little. Thus the evolution of yahoo to yahoo plus.
Yahoo-plus on the other hand involves the use of concoction, magic, charm, voodoo and other extraordinary manipulation methods to dupe a target often referred to as the "client"
Yahoo-plus worked well because it was next level and it wasn't saturated yet. To get unexpected results you should most certainly be ready and able to do unexpected things.
Times have changed, the quest to make money has even increased and with a lot of perfect excuses as to why they need to make money that way, the Yahoo-plus market had finally been saturated, causing a reduction in profit margin being shared by the oracles to shareholders "Yahoo-plus boys." Now all they have to show for doing things others wouldn't dare is little money, baggy trousers and "Mama said" quotes.
Kidnappers on the other hand have evolved from kidnapping victims for ransom, to kidnapping and cutting them for body parts, the logic behind the evolution is that the kidnapping market has also become saturated and the family and the friends of victims are often too poor to pay tangible ransoms. In some situations, reports have been heard about families of victims paying the kidnappers in prayers.
Sadly, kidnapping for the purpose of cutting and selling of body parts is now a thing of the past, apparently the market is now saturated and because of that, the prices of body parts have dropped in the black market, and some are even unable to sell the body parts.
Kidnappers now kidnap, to use the body parts of victims as sacrifices for money-making rituals, the limitation being, people are extra careful, some use fortification to defend themselves, the law enforcement agents are breathing down the necks of these evil doers and victims who have a close relationship to their creators can be a nightmare to the kidnappers.
A solution for them, A nightmare for victims.
In genetics, hybrids are usually stronger than pure lines, according to mages and storytellers, a hybrid is stronger than a vampire or a werewolf. What is my point right?
Digital ritualistic scams, the process in which online scammers use a ritualistic method to scam their target "clients"
The solution moves beyond the limitation of Yahoo-plus and also moves beyond the limitations of traditional ritualistic kidnapping.
Digital Ritualistic scam is a combination of online scam and traditional ritualistic methods, it produces a synergistic result in money making. Or so they say.
My Experience With A Digital Ritualistic Scammer Or A Generic Long Conman.
On the Afternoon of the 24th of July, 2023. A call came into my friend's phone, the student watching a movie with the phone rushed to give him the phone when he picked up the call, he was greeted and told that a lot of recharge card pins were sent to his number and that it was meant for an old man. My friend said okay, he wouldn't recharge the recharge card pins and ended the call immediately.
My friend then said to me, that the person who called will just be sending the recharge card pins to him, and that it is all part of the scam, seconds later he received a message from the number with about 3000 naira worth of Airtel recharge card pins. Since it was an elaborate scam, I suggest to my friend that I busted their bubble by loading the cards, he said I shouldn't that he heard that they can gain access to a phone after recharging such, I offered that I will recharge it on my phone and that I trusted in Samsungs security features, he said I should go on if I wanted too "that is your business" he said.
A call entered again and it was the man who "mistakenly" sent the recharge card pins was the one talking again, he said the card should have entered and that it is not his own, that my friend should please not recharge it, he emphasis on not recharging it and pleaded with my friend. I told my friend to tell him that he has deleted the text so there is no way he would recharge it, and then my friend ended the call, I knew it was a scam like my friend said but more importantly it seemed the person who called wanted my friend to recharge the card, the reason I couldn't figure and so I decided not to "scam the scammer" like I intended to, I asked my friend to delete the text and put his phone on flight mode so that the student who came to visit us could continue the movie he was watching without disturbance. He did as I said.
In the evening, an unknown number called and my friend picked it up, he came inside because he knew it was that person who was calling again. The person started to thank him and said the old man who the credit was meant for is currently with him and wants to pray for him, my friend took the phone far from his ear and was about to end the call, I jumped off my bed and signalled that he passed me the phone.
The man started the "prayer" but it seemed like he was reciting incantations, and before he talked too much I said to him.
"iro ni
mo da pada
Eje Jesu"
which translates to
"it is a lie
I return it back
Blood of Jesus"
The reason I said "It is a lie, I return it back" is because I watched a lot of Yoruba movies while growing up and when two herbalists were fighting, the other says "It is a lie, I return it back" before he proceeds to say his own incantations.
The man seemed shocked that I understood Yoruba, the language he spoke so he said to me "Oloriburuku" which literally translates to "Owner of bad head."
I wasn't angry, but the adrenaline was rushing through me, so I said back to him "Oloriburuku" He ended the call and I begged God for forgiveness.
This is the replica of an old scam that was popular in 2014. Where the "old man" prays for you, tells you your problem, and then gets you to send money to him to help you solve it.
I felt it was more. Maybe/maybe not, I asked myself was this the same outdated long con or something evolved, like a digital ritualistic scam? Well, I didn't stick long enough to find out.
