Some 22 young Cameroonians have been tracked down by international anti-fraud unit for internet fraud.
While a great number of Cameroonians, particularly youths, are using the Internet in useful ways such as to carry out research, others have taken it as a forum to get rich over night by duping individuals they meet through different Internet networks such as “facebook” and “Hi5″. They operate under the cover of being big business magnets or true lovers. Recent information published over the Internet indicates that some 22 Cameroonians based in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Ussuriysk (Ukraine), London (United Kingdom), Berlin (Germany), Ivory Coast, and in the towns of Yaounde, Bamenda, Limbe (Cameroon) have been identified as scammers by the international anti-fraud unit.
There are indications that more Cameroon scammers are still to be confirmed by the International anti-fraud unit. Most of the scammers, who use nicknames, get into the profile of their victims either on Facebook, Skype and other chat forums on the Internet, lure them into love fantasy which ends up in huge monetary transactions that marks the disappearance of the so-called “lover boy” or business partner (scammer). A Bamenda-based scammer, who stood for a puppy business operation, duped a UK customer who wanted to buy puppies from him. The scammer never delivered the puppy by air as stipulated in the contract but received 85 per cent of the price of the puppy which was sent to him by his Internet customer.
An American girl created a Facebook profile to escape the loneliness created by the break-up of a relationship. Being of Cameroonian origin by her father, she began adding people from Cameroon to her profile, although she had not visited the country in over 15 years. Less than two months ago, she was contacted by one of the Cameroonians on her profile who is based in Kuala Lumpur. She was taken in by what quickly became a love scam. She fell head over heels for the scumbag, who knew just the right words to tell. Hard working and a brilliant student, she soon promised to sponsor his entry into the United States and to help him get into the same university where, of course, she would be paying the fees for him. After buying a plane ticket to spend vacation with her new lover in Malaysia, she gave access to her scammer lover to collect money from her account to book a hotel and rent a car for her stay in Malaysia. The girl later realised huge sums of money was taken from her account with the new lover no more in existence. Some foreign businessmen have been found wandering in some streets in Cameroon after arriving in the country to realise that their Cameroonian business partners are not real. While the Internet remains a useful tool in the society, users are urged to be conscious against con men.