When Carlos Barragán discovered his mother was the victim of romance fraud, he flew to Lagos to find the con man – and found the Yahoo Boys, young men whose job it is to rip off westerners. The name comes from the old email platform, first used by the Nigerian scammers decades ago.
His mother, Silvia, had fallen in love online with flirtatious, sincere, handsome Brian; she bought rings, planned a future and was convinced that they would one day live together – when he was free to travel to Spain.
Her sons, though, suspected something sinister was afoot, especially when “Brian” started to make financial demands.
Over the course of three years Carlos, a journalist, visited Nigeria multiple times to see the Yahoo Boys in action and to try to understand why this particularly cruel, exploitative form of online fraud has become such an earner for so many young men in Lagos. He also discovered a romance scam involving an Irish woman.
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His compelling book, The Yahoo Boys: Real Life with the Love Scammers of Lagos, is published this week.
He talks about the experience on In the News.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.
