How My Friend Got Scammed

(Short Note from Yemi Olakitan)

When I saw this article on LinkedIn, I knew I had to publish it on my blog so that my readers can benefit from it. 

I can perfectly relate to the story in it because for the past six months a group of self-acclaimed and self-professed cryptocurrency experts have been harassing me on social media and asking me to invest with them, not that investment is bad but, many are fraudsters!! 

I thank God that they have not succeeded in making me part with my money. This article is published for this very reason; to alert the public to the scammers out there, claiming to be crypto experts, asking you to part with your hard-earned money in order to scam you. Beware!! 

How My Friend Got Scammed

By Oluwatosin Olaseinde

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we had just closed from church when I picked up my friend’s call and she was sounding as excited as someone that won the lottery.

At first, I thought she had finally gotten a scholarship, as this has been her desire for the past few years. I was busy dancing at the thought of my friend relocating from Nigeria at last. But she quickly cut my celebration short and said ‘No, it’s not relocation’, so I paused to listen to her. She said, “Omo I don hammer, maga ti pay…lol.” I thought to myself, ‘what is fueling all these words and excitement?”

Before I forget, this same friend called me the previous night (Saturday), that she needed some money to address an urgent need, and promised to pay it back by Monday. At first, I was reluctant, but it was very unusual of her to make such a request, so I just gave it to her without question.

After the call on Sunday, she called me again on Monday sounding sad. I had already forgotten the money I gave her and I thought she wanted to explain that she wouldn't be able to pay it back as promised, but what I heard next shocked me to the bone. “I have been scammed. I have lost all the money I saved for my travelling,” She said as she cried like a baby. I was short of words.

 

“What! What happened? How manage?”

 

This is her story….

 

A particular group she had been following in the media, claimed to help people invest their money in cryptocurrency and pay them a certain amount as returns. They claimed to have an understanding of the crypto market and were into futures trading (Cryptocurrency futures are contracts between two investors that bet on a cryptocurrency's future price. They allow investors to gain exposure to select cryptocurrencies without purchasing them).

Since she had little knowledge of cryptocurrency, she thought it would be a good investment decision for her. She told me how she monitored them for up to 2 weeks, and how people thronged into the discussion group to thank the traders. Anytime people in the group reported one problem or the other, they got it resolved before she blinked an eye. They shared the link to their website (which was never theirs) but the excitement did not even allow her to dig deep. In order to verify the genuineness, she sent private messages to some of the individuals in the group and they all confirmed how helpful the company had been. She later realized that it was all staged.

To cut the long story short, they promised to pay back her investment and return by 3 PM on Monday. By 4 PM, she had not received anything and that was when she realized that she had been scammed.

A lot of people have fallen victim to this scam, their hard-earned money disappeared into thin air just because they didn’t carry out due diligence.

And others who carried out their research, have fallen victim to the “phishing scam”. This scam targets information pertaining to online wallets. Specifically, scammers are now interested in login details of crypto wallets, which would give access to the money within the wallet. They send an email leading unsuspecting investors to a specially created website that asks them to enter private information. When the hackers have acquired this information, they can steal the cryptocurrency contained in those wallets.

This is why at Money Africa we equip you with the right financial knowledge you need to start investing in stocks, bonds, treasury bills, mutual funds, ETFs, REITs, cryptocurrency and many more.

And since we know a lot of people fall victim to the wrong platforms for investment, we guide you to the right companies or apps to start your investment journey, like Luno.

Luno is a cryptocurrency platform available to both iOS and Android users. It checks off several of the most important boxes for a crypto exchange. It is highly secure, easy to use, beginner-friendly, pays interest on crypto savings, has secure storage and provides educational resources.

To download the app, kindly use the links below;

Android;

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.bitx.android.wallet&hl=en&gl=US

Apple;

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/luno-buy-and-sell-crypto-app/id927362479

Published by

Oluwatosin Olaseinde

Founder, Money Africa & Ladda | Fintech | Edtech | Linked In Top Voices Finance & Economy 2020 | Mandela Washington Fellowship | Financial literacy expert

Founder, Money Africa & Ladda | Fintech | Edtech | Linked In Top Voices Finance & Economy 2020 | Mandela Washington Fellowship | Financial literacy expert

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-my-friend-got-scammed-oluwatosin-olaseinde/

This article was first published on LinkedIn