Chapter 50
Love Hackers
By Flora Willingham
Sèmègàn, Yahoo Plus Plus
Sèmègàn is in jail, serving a life sentence for murder.
His crime is killing a young woman as part of a ritual to enhance his success in online scams. Sèmègàn’s story is a chilling example of the extreme lengths some scammers are willing to go to in order to achieve their goals.
Known as “Yahoo Plus Plus,” this dark variant of the traditional “Yahoo Boys” scam involves the use of human sacrifices and black magic to increase the chances of success.
Sèmègàn explains that he was introduced to the world of online scams by his friends, who taught him how to create fake profiles and manipulate victims. But as the competition grew fiercer, Sèmègàn turned to more extreme measures.
“My brother told me about a witch doctor who could help me get rich,” Sèmègàn says. “The Ifá priest said I needed to make a sacrifice. I didn’t want to do it, but I was desperate.”
The witch doctor instructed Sèmègàn to bring him the left breast of a young woman, which would be used in a potion to enhance his scamming abilities. Sèmègàn lured a nineteen-year-old girl to a remote location, where he drugged her and carried out the gruesome act.
“I didn’t want to kill her,” Sèmègàn says, “but I thought it was the only way to escape poverty.” His voice is very straightforward, almost emotionless. I know from an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that a “flat affect” can be a result of PTSD.
Believe it or not, Sèmègàn’s story is not unique.
In recent years, there has been a rise in the number of “Yahoo Plus Plus” cases in Nigeria, with scammers resorting to increasingly violent methods to achieve their goals.
The Nigerian government has cracked down on these crimes, but the lure of quick wealth continues to draw young people into the dark world of cyber-spiritualism.
When the WhatsApp chat is over, I can’t help but feel really sad. For every scammer like Sèmègàn who is caught, there are many others committing violence and fraud, driven by a desperate desire to escape their circumstances and willing to believe anything.