By Afolabi Aribigbola

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In Nigeria the activities of swindlers seem to be on the sprout in recent times as more able-bodied young men are investing their time and energy in dispossessing unsuspecting innocent people of their money and valuables. Indeed, swindlers in one form or the other have always been part and parcel of human society since time immemorial. However, while societies have been making frantic efforts to nip their nefarious activities in the bud over the years, they also have been devising new methods and approaches to swindle unsuspecting innocent people of their possessions. Often these are resources people have invested lots of their time and energies to acquire to better their living conditions. In the past, the swindlers engaged in printing fake currencies, lying to obtain money from people to making stories that their goods were seized by the Nigerian Customs Service.

In contemporary times, they now deploy new scamming methods including employment racketeering or fake job offer, investment scam, hijack of social media accounts, blackmail and extortion, creation of fake social media account, social media message offering mouth watering offers and telephone to bank customers posing as their banks’ customer service officers to fraudulently obtain their account details among others. Unfortunately, many Nigerians and foreigners alike have fallen victims and lost large sums of money to the growing army of swindlers in the country. Through some of the above listed approaches they will access people’s bank account and made away with huge sums of money. How they achieve all these is still a mystery to me because I was once a victim and money was transferred from my account to somebody in Ebonyi State while my debit card was firmly in my possession. Of course, thanks to the Nigerian Police because they brought the young man from Abakaliki to Akure and I got my money back.

It is not always the case for many people and hence the need to be aware of the dangerous trending activities of the swindlers so that more people will not continue to fall victim to their evil activities. The upsurge in the escapades of scammers in the country and the consequences has become a serious source of concern to me and many discerning Nigerians as well as those that have suffered losses from the activities of the swindlers. Also, why is that it appears the law enforcement agencies are unable to cope or are uninterested in arresting the cankerworm that is giving the country a bad name and which is equally sending investors away from the country. Indeed, there are no society without its share.

However, the difference is in the ability, sincerity and commitment to curtailing the reprehensive trade that differ. Thus, while most societies are ridding their communities of the dangerous criminals, not much is being done in Nigeria to address the serious problems of swindlers. That is why the evil trade is escalating in the country. In any case, some individuals have argued that the harsh economic climate prevailing in Nigeria with high unemployment and unprecedented poverty is responsible for escalating vociferous activities of money swindlers in the country. That it is because people are without jobs and therefore to survive, they need to take laws into their hands by stealing from others whom they considered are better off. This line of thought seems not to hold water because there are several jobs that the youths can engage to earn a living.

But sad enough they are not prepared to learn and work with their hands. This is because virtually in all trades in the country there are gross shortages of manpower. There are for instance not enough bricklayers, motor vehicles mechanics, electricians, and farm workers, among others. Yet people complained of unemployment in the country because they could not access white collar employment. Other strand of argument suggests that open display of opulence by the leaders in the country have encouraged and instigated get-rich-syndrome and hence emergence of swindlers. Some others have reasoned that it is because the security apparatus of the state is weak and in some cases compromise and romance with swindlers have permitted the flourishing of the illegal activities in Nigeria. Of course, this line of thought seems solid and right because how does one account for proliferation of expensive cars by students that have never worked without questions from the society.

To confirm this, all people need to do is to visit our tertiary institutions. One will be amazed to see students lining and competing with expensive cars that their parents and teachers cannot afford and yet no one is asking questions. This is what is motivating others to seek to join the thriving nefarious trade of yahoo-yahoo and on-line swindlers. Sad enough young people are now being recruited and trained in these obnoxious yahoo and online scamming thereby bolstering the illegal trade. In a nutshell, swindlers in Nigeria are increasing and are taking advantage of the internet and social media to defraud people generally using various tricks. The scenarios presented above has serious consequences. Besides destroying the image of the country, it is promoting the economic crisis facing the country by depriving people of their hard-earned resources which could discourage hard work. It has been forcing investors to avoid the country while many businesses have relocated from the country.

Also, it has contributed to increasing the incidence of poverty particularly those that lost their entire savings to become poor. It does not support creativity and productivity as many can make money without contributing to production of goods and services. This dangerous path must be reversed if the country is to progress as anticipated by forthright Nigerians. To avoid being defrauded by swindlers, people should be aware of their existence and intrigues. They should be conscious that anybody can be swindled by these evil-minded individuals and therefore the need to exercise utmost caution in dealing with people generally and especially those approaching them with business proposals. People should not rush or jump into seemingly attractive business proposals or offers without painstaking investigations and background checks.

The security agents should be alive to their responsibilities to checkmate the rising activities of swindlers. My recent experience showed that The Nigerian Police can curtail their activities if the environment and motivation is good. The laws and regulations dealing with this type of criminality need to be strengthened and better implemented. The economic crisis facing the country need to be urgently addressed and fixed to create more employment opportunities and means of livelihood for the growing youth population of the country.

The parents, traditional and religious leaders need to work to correct some of the ills bedeviling Nigeria. The parents need to monitor and talk to their children while the traditional institution should detest the activities of people whose sources of wealth cannot be ascertained. Unfortunately, some of them have been accorded recognitions by conferring chieftaincy titles on them. The religious leaders need to preach against these vices among their congregation while they should not continue to accord recognitions to individuals with questionable source of wealth to discourage others from indulging in unwholesome practices including swindling other people. Ridding the Nigerian society of swindlers requires collective efforts of all citizens of the country to salvage its battered image.