Videos have circulated of the accused men engaged in lavish displays of wealth, such as throwing a party where guests danced on a floor covered in dollar notes and having a "champagne bath", drenched from top to toe in the expensive wine.
Also in circulation are photos of some of them posing with top government officials. One man on the FBI's list was on the inauguration committee of a newly elected state governor barely three months ago. The BBC has not verified the authenticity of the videos and photos.
The mocked government officials were quick to deny any close association with the accused. But the truth is, that sometimes it turns out that the fraudsters are known to us. They are our brothers' friends, friends' husbands, dates, or relatives who genuflect as they smile sweetly and say to us: "Good morning, Auntie. These fraudsters flash their lavish lifestyles in our faces.
We attend their ostentatious weddings and parties. They are the special guests at our events. Our community and humanitarian projects benefit from their largess. But we feel immensely ashamed when their names feature on FBI lists or when they are arrested. They become a national disgrace.
If convicted, Mr Okeke faces up to 30 years in jail, experts say. His court case will resume in February Nigerians are particularly worried that the scams might hamper international recognition of the country's young entrepreneurs, and the granting of visas to those with legitimate business interests in the US.
There is also that part of some Nigerians that cannot help but admire these young scammers - the ingenuity and audacity that enables them to swipe, with ease, millions of dollars from American neuroscientists, British CEOs and German scholars. Imagine if these young criminals had better role models and opportunities.
Imagine how much they could contribute to the advancement of humankind. Financial Fraud. Tax Fraud. Credit Cards. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.
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Popular Courses. What Is a Nigerian Scam? Key Takeaways Nigerian scams are a scheme, generally done via email, where a sender offers a commission to someone to help transfer a sum of money.
They rarely stay on these platforms for long, though. Santiago said, "These scammers then try to get their victims off dating and social media sites to messaging apps like WhatsApp or Google Hangouts, so their accounts won't get deleted.
The scammers almost always claim that their aim is to find love and to build a connection, sometimes telling their victims that finding one another was "destiny. Victims are likely not the first person that the scammer has contacted. They cast nets far and wide to find people who are most vulnerable and willing to believe their story. Often times, these scammers attempt to find women who are middle-aged or older, single or widowed and potentially in a vulnerable state.
They then prey on the person's insecurities and hope to find a genuine connection. When carrying out these schemes, the scammers create rather elaborate stories to lure in potential victims. They create profiles with pictures of attractive people, typically stolen from other online profiles. They will often claim to be from the same area where their victim is located, but say that they are overseas work, school, religious obligations such as missionary work, military service or any number of other excuses.
There are dozens if not hundreds of examples of pre-crafted introductions, questions and responses meant to slowly trick a victim into falling for the scheme. The idea behind the scripts is to create the feeling of a whirlwind romance, the type of thing that you would see in a movie. The victim quickly starts to fall for the scammer as they display charm and wit, compassion and kindness.
Santiago explained that the playbook is the result of a long-running operation that functions similar to a multi-level marketing or pyramid scheme. Mentors recruit workers, who are given access to the playbook, which has been fine-tuned time and time again after each scam to try to find approaches that consistently work.
These newly recruited scammers make use of the playbook to try to take advantage of a victim.
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