The Yahoo Boys: Real Life with the Love Scammers of Lagos

A work of immersion journalism about four young romance scammers in Lagos, Nigeria, exploring how and why they scam, and the moral dilemmas they face

When his mother started emailing with a handsome American soldier who promised to send gold bars to her Madrid apartment, the journalist Carlos Barragán came face to face with the human toll of online romance fraud. After tracing the emails to an IP address in Nigeria, he traveled to Lagos to find his mother’s scammer and stumbled on a bigger story. There, in a crowded and impoverished neighborhood in the midst of Africa’s largest city, he encountered thousands of young men engaged in romance scamming. They call themselves “Yahoo Boys,” and each year they steal millions of dollars from lonely victims overseas, building a dizzying local economy from their phones.

In The Yahoo Boys, Barragán takes us inside the lives of four of the Yahoo Boys of Lagos. We meet Biggy and Chibuike, each struggling with the temptations of fast money; Azeez, a tailor’s apprentice caught between the lure of crime and Nigeria’s economic crisis; and Richie, who believes he caused the death of a Kentucky woman who was his victim for years. Some Yahoo Boys attain the status of folk heroes, buying houses and cars with the money they steal, while others become dependent on drugs and “cash out”―successfully scam a victim―only to lose it all.

Through the Yahoo Boys’ twisting fortunes, Barragán discovers the psychological tactics they perfect, the brutal economic realities that drive them, and the moral dilemmas they confront. A work of radical empathy, this book reveals the human face behind a global phenomenon, and shows how loneliness in the West and poverty in Nigeria are two sides of the same coin.

Finding high-quality digital editions shouldn't be a challenge. With instant access to our curated library, you can start your journey with Aftermath immediately. Whether on your phone, tablet, or e-reader, the story of Raleigh's life is presented in a format designed for modern readers.

To get started finding The Yahoo Boys: Real Life with the Love Scammers of Lagos, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of titles listed. Our library is one of the most comprehensive resources for free digital reading materials, providing verified and safe content for book lovers worldwide.