The 400 asses
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“Hello, I’m new to the site and I would like to make new friends.” Using fake profiles, scammers are multiplying online scams. A book by the anthropologist Valentina Peri looks at their techniques and especially their motivations: money, glory or revenge?
They are called “Yahoo boys” or “419” in Nigeria, “feymen” in Cameroon, “gaymans” in Benin, “grazers” in Ivory Coast… Sentimental scammers (romance scammers) are often young African singles, with no job prospects, who dream of becoming stars in the art of deluding “mougous” (pigeons). Their preferred targets are Western singles, aged 54 to 62. In a work entitled the Gallant Grazer (UV éditions), the result of an investigation carried out in the popular neighborhoods of Abidjan, the curator and anthropologist Valentina Peri exposes the secret documents which allow cybercriminals to deceive their prey. Under what assumed identities do they present themselves? What are their seduction strategies?
The book also addresses a conundrum: why are so many romance scammers based in West Africa? “The phenomenon begins in Nigeria, a country renowned for its numerous scams. It was also in Nigeria that one of the first laws against cybercrime, Law 419, was adopted in the 2000s. Judicial repression then became so harsh that it forced many Nigerian scammers to emigrate and export their businesses to neighboring countries: Benin, Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, in particular”, explains Valentina Peri to Release.
In 2022, Valentina Pe
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