Scam Alert! Don't fall a victim.

At the rate the world is going, internet users has tripled. Amongst these internet users are fraudsters, fakers, thieves, legitimate and illegitimate Business offers, real and fake job hunting sites, novices and armatures, gurus and wizards of the e-world etc.


Internet users are like a mixture of river Niger and river Benue water in one bottle; and it is very hard to differentiate. Therefore, people fall for scammers every second of everyday.

Guarding yourself against such people is not as simple as it is thought to be. There are attitudes towards not falling a victim.

Don't be in a hurry to fill any e-form:

You may get them as job forms, lotto, software update, account reviews, e-mail shutdown notifications, even a Church program attendance form.

These people replicate original web sites to defraud people. I.e, "First bank" asking you to update your bank information. "Yahoo" warning you of limited space or blockage.

There are lots of diplomatic cloned sites that dupe people off their hard earned money.

Through some research, being a human engineering personnel, i found some factors to be responsible for getting involved in internet scam.

Firstly, "greed" is the major reason and it goes intertwined with desperation.

Solution: Calm down, don't rush for/into  things. Think and get a second party involved. Be content with what you have then work for a raise.

Secondly, "vogue-virus" this affects the women mostly. Trying to belong often make us be wrong.

(Beauty tips: How to enlarge you hip, firm your breasts and tighten your 'V'. These people knows how to get you interested. They'd tell you that's what Rihannah and beyoncee did. They would get you dancing to their tunes. Beware...

Lastly, Seekers of easy money. "Awuuf dey run belle" a popular pidgin saying explains it better.

"MTN" promo, Bet 1,000 and win 10,000,000 etc.

There is one going on now. They would first of all castigate MTN, telling you to join in dealing with them before the block the hacked way of getting bonuses.

Get a 3GB data bundle and triple your recharge of 400 naira each time you follow the format below. Buy Mtn recharge, send an SMS in the following format: Card pin*card serial number*your phone number*default pin of 0000# send to MTN ISDN number 00923490.......

People would fail to notice that they are actually sending their recharge pins to an Etisalat user's phone number. This Scam is minor but millions are falling into it.

Be careful the kind of info you give out to admins of websites. Be vigilant, be watchful.

Happy new year in Advance.
★Chibuike Ogunwa.