Beware of Facebook Scammers Claiming to Send you Apple Gadgets via British Airways

Scam Alart! There are now Nigerian scammers operating on social media most especially Facebook, who will claim to send you expensive Apple gadgets, including Apple MacBook and iPhones. These criminals will claim to send you the items via British airways and ask you to pay a token amount to collect. Don’t fall for it, it is a scam!

The way these criminals operate is they will send you a friend request on Facebook, usually with a clone account of unsuspecting foreigners, complete with their victims profile and family pictures to make them look legit.

Once you accept the friend request, they will send you a private message asking you random questions like, how is the pandemic in your area? Or what do you do for a living?

After establishing some level of rapport with you, these criminals will then ask you to have a video chat with them on iChat, knowing fully well that most Nigerians don’t own Apple gadgets.

Once you tell them you don’t have an Apple product, they will offer to send you one, they will ask you for basic information like your full name, home address and phone number.

In my case the scammer already have pictures of MacBooks, they probably just downloaded from the internet to convince you that they are actually shopping in an Apple store, some will even try to convince you with a receipt, all to make it look like they are in a store about to send you a free gadget.

After convincing you that they’ve bought your, the next step in the scam is they will tell you they are on their way to the airport to send you the items. For some reason these scammers are all relying on British airways using the same format.

They will then send you a fake waybill from British airways with your name and phone number superimposed on it. There’s also a phony tracking number on the waybill with the phone number of the scammer on it.

08089028954, if you’re in a similar situation, check to see if the number they ask you to call is the same, don’t trust them, they are scammers!

If you call the number, they will ask you to pay a small amount like N7,500 to clear your gadgets. It seems like a fair deal, pay N7,500 for a $1000 Apple MacBook and iPhone, except it is a scam. Once you made the first payment they will ask you for more and more money, as they’ve now sensed you are desperate and greedy.

Conclusion

This type of scam is called local Yahoo. Nigerian scammers that used to scam foreigners are now doing it at home, be vigilant.

No one, out of the goodness of their hearts, will send random strangers on Facebook expensive gadgets. If anything online looks too good to be true, that is because it is too good to be true. Don’t be greedy, protect yourself from scammers and lookout for the following tell.

If you can’t see someone’s friends list on Facebook, the account is most likely fake. You can’t read the comments on their posts and pictures because they turn it off. You see a picture with say 20 comments, but when you click on the comments you can’t read them, scam alert!

Nigerian scammers and Yahoo boys used to scam Americans and other foreigners, but now these criminals are beginning to operate locally and target other unsuspecting Nigerians, be vigilant. Check this Nairaland thread to read the experiences of other Nigerians.