Blog Readers, Beware as Fraudsters Parade Fake Girls on Facebook

 

                       Many users of Facebook will agree that they have, at one time or another, received phoney messages from strange but attractive looking ladies on the .social networking site.

                      While some people have been able to separate the scam mails from the genuine ones, others have not been smart enough to know the difference. The latter easily fall prey to the tactics of faceless con men who hide beneath false identities to defraud them.

Pretending to be young ladies aged between 18 and 26 years, the criminals often target men that are naturally drawn to pretty women. Investigation shows that they always use freshly opened Facebook accounts – the types that display one or two sensual pictures of a woman and very few ‘friends’ – to bait their victims.

Having successfully ‘wooed’ their unsuspecting victim, they tactically send short messages that begin with phrases, such as, ‘How are you?’ and ‘Can I be your friend?’

As soon as they receive a response, they move on to the next stage, flirting with the victim before going on to squeeze as much money as they can get from him.

It is not difficult to spot these fake ‘girls’ on Facebook by simply observing certain similarities in their personal data. For instance, their names are as unreal as their pictures look.

Imagine receiving a messages from a certain Franklin Ariel Cortez Garcia who begins his love note by writing, “Hello, my name is Precious. Please reply me so I can send my pictures to you through my email address, mypreciousbabygal@yahoo.com.”

Another letter may read, “Hello, I just went through your profile and I like what I see. I want to know you better please reply through my email so we can know each other better. Waiting to see your mail.”

Although Facebook tries to eliminate such fraudulent messages by marking them as spam shortly after they have reached their victims, some hapless persons may fall prey before such cleansing takes place.

It is important to note that beyond the tricks, the simple explanation is that they are ‘419’ men luring people into parting with their hard-earned cash by operating fake Facebook accounts.

While the trend isn’t peculiar to Nigeria, a US-based Facebook group called Stop Nigerian 419 scams (Stomp out Scams)has been created to help everyone “become aware of, recognize and avoid falling victim to all types of Nigerian style scams, including romance, advance payment and foreign lottery scams.”

The good news is that Nigerians can avoid falling victim to these con men by taking certain precautionary measures, such as activating the privacy setting on their Facebook accounts and treating subsequent requests for friendship, especially from persons they hardly know, with suspicion.

The subject has been trending on social media with some victims of the scams recounting their experiences. Lamenting the ugly trend, @LODAFRIQ wrote, “I receive an average of two scam messages of this type daily on Facebook. #fraudsters #yahooyahoo #ole #419 .

A certain Lorliam Shija says, “Lilia Princess Edson, Rosemary Ndadaye ,Angela Mpka..are the three 419 people that sent me seductive messages last week.” Also, Ben Ezemalu wrote, “All these ‘girls’ sending me Facebook messages with e-mail addresses think I have never see a pretty girl!”

Then @imuss added a note of warning, “Only 10 per cent of boys are talking with girls on Facebook. The remaining 90 per cent are talking with fake accounts”.

Source: PunchNews

Channel O Music Video Awards 2014 Nominees Announced! | Davido – 5, Mavins – 4, See More!

The awards season has officially kicked off in the Nigerian entertainment scene! With the annual Nigeria Entertainment Awards in New York over, more nominations are being revealed.

Channel O, the 17 year old pioneer African music video platform, announced the nominees for the 2014 edition of the Channel O Music Video Awards today! This year’s show will take place on Saturday, 29 November at Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto.

Leading with the most nominees this year is Nigeria’s Davido and new South African Hip Hop star Cassper Nyovest with five nominations each. Davido has 4 nominations in the 14 categories for “Aye” alone.

The Mavins crew are also big contenders – Don Jazzy, Tiwa Savage and Dr SID have a combined four nominations. Other Nigerians nominated are 2Face, Wizkid, Olamide, Iyanya, P-Square, Flavour, KCee, Niyola, Jesse Jagz, Orezi, Burna Boy and newcomers Patoranking & Seyi Shay.

If you’d like to vote for your favourite artist, go to www.channelo.tv

Who are you rooting for?!

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2 fans arrested for taunting Asamoah Gyan over Castro's disappearance

Source: The Chronicle

Asamoah Gyan and Castro

Two football fanatics were reportedly arrested by the Police at the Baba Yara Sports Wednesday after they attempted to inquire from the Captain of the Black Stars, Asamoah Gyan, about the whereabouts of the missing hiplife artiste, Theophilus Tagoe, popularly known Castro.
The fans, who are said to be students of the Koforidua Polytechnic, were reported to have hooted at the Black Stars Skipper, shouting at him to produce the body of his close pal and music icon, Castro.
According to reports gathered by The Chronicle, Asamoah Gyan, who was irked by the ranting from the football fans, reported the matter to some security officers present at the stadium and quickly asked them to effect the arrest of the two students.
The Black Stars are currently in the Garden City preparing feverishly for an African Cup of Nations Qualifying match against their Ugandan counterparts.
At the time of filing this report, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service, ASP Mohammed Tanko could not confirm the arrest and told this reporter that the information had not come to his attention.
Reports, however, indicate that the police are holding the wrong people, as the two students, in the course of the arrest, protested vehemently about their innocence and insisted they were not the ones who hooted at the Black Stars skipper.
The police would, however, not take any of their pleas and rather hauled them into a vehicle, before driving them out of the stadium.
The hiplife icon, has since July, this year, been missing, after he was reported to have gone on a jet ski with a lady friend, Janet Bandu, on the Peace Holiday Resort, in the Eastern Region.
The musician, who is presumed dead in some quarters, went to the resort together with his close pal and ace footballer, Asamoah Gyan.
Since his disappearance, there have been lots of conspiracy theories, with some accusing his footballer friend of allegedly being responsible for the missing hiplife artiste.

Photos: Esama of Benin kicks off 80th birthday celebration

Esama of Benin, Sir Gabriel Igbinedion will turn 80 on September 11th and a month long celebration which will stretch around three continents has kicked off in Benin. Colourful activities to mark his birthday started in Benin last week and today he went to University of Ibadan for the launch of his biography written by four professors from University's department of History. It's said to be the first honour of its kind by UI. From Ibadan, the party will move to South Africa, then there's a party in London and the US.

The Esama is said to have ordered a new wonder ride to celebrate this milestone. See pics from some activities that has already taken place after the cut..

The Esama

 

 

He's known for his many pioneering achievements and vast business empire. Amongst his pioneering achievements are:

1) First to set up an auto assembly plant in Nigeria with the company he founded, Mid Motors
2) First to set up a private Airline in Nigeria, Okada Air which at its height had over 40 aircraft including the world's largest passenger plane at the time, the Boeing 747. Okada was also the largest private airline in Africa at the time.
3) First to set up a private university in Nigeria, Igbinedion University, Okada Town.

He's also known for his many philanthropic contributions and organizations set up by him.

In recognition of his Numerous achievements he was twice honoured with high national awards by the President, namely Commander order of the Niger, and Commander of the Federal Republic. (CON & CFR)

Source: Linda Ikeji

Tension in Agbor kingdom as King reportedly marries white woman

According to Leadership Newspaper, the Agbor kingdom in Delta state is currently in a state of confusion after their 37 year old King, the Dein of Agbor, Benjamin Ikechukwu Kiagborekuzi I, secretly married a white woman, a decision said to be unacceptable by his people who expected him to marry an Agbor woman. 

The Dein who was crowned King when he was just two and a half years old in 1979 following the death of his father, had all his education abroad. He returned to Nigeria in 2001 after completing all his studies to assume the throne as king and has been ruling his kingdom since without a Queen.

Looks like he found love while he was abroad and decided to settle down with her. Continue...

A highly respected palace Chief, Alika (surname withheld) told Leadership newspapers that the ruling palace council had insisted that he gets married to a Nigerian woman from Agbor kingdom according to the tradition but appears their king called their bluff and married the white woman, a decision seen as a taboo

Photo-- Banks In Kaduna Now Screening People For Ebola

 

After the recent Ebola scare in Kaduna state, Banks in the northern state have started screening of customers before letting them in.

This recent technique starts just 24 hours after one suspected case of Ebola Virus Disease was reported at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Customers are told to wash their hands before being allowed into banks.
Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) administration has however stated that they are still waiting the result of the test carried out on the suspected Ebola victim.
TheNation states that customers in these banks have instead of critiquing the development, have gladly welcomed the inconvenience.
A 19-year-old student of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) was admitted to hospital with EVD symptoms yesterday.
However after tests where run on him,  ABUTH  health workers allegedly stated that the boy has tested negative.

Ebola-- British William Pooley Treated With ZMapp Discharged

 

The first British victim of Ebola virus has been discharged from hospital after having been treated with the experimental drug ZMapp.

William Pooley, aged 29, volunteered in Sierra Leone to help people fight the outbreak of the deadly tropical virus. However as soon as the man developed Ebola symptoms and tested positive for the virus, he was flown back to the United Kingdom for treatment on August 24.
His family members expressed gratitude to the UK authorities over quickly response to the incident and provision of excellent medical assistance at the Royal Free Hospital.
It is none of a secret, that the British patient was among several people in the world, who had the experimental Ebola drug ZMapp administered. This very serum is believed to have saved the lives of 2 Americans who had received it earlier.
After more than a week-long battle with the disease Pooley was released Wednesday morning.
Speaking after the recovery, the man characterized himself as a “very lucky” person, Telegraph UK reports:

“I was very lucky in several ways. Firstly in the standard of care which I received, which is a world apart from what people are receiving in West Africa at the moment despite a lot of aid organisations’ best efforts. My symptoms never progressed to the worst stages of the disease. [Compared to] the people that I’ve seen dying horrible deaths, I had some unpleasant symptoms but nothing compared to the worst of the disease.”

Before contracting the virus, Pooley had helped to save scores of lives in Sierra Leone.
The man was interviewed several days before he had developed Ebola symptoms and expressed joy over aiding people. He was quoted saying:

“It’s great seeing them walk away after some of them have been in a terrible state. Seeing them recover and walk out the door, it’s great.”