You must have heard about one chance and the 419 aka fraudsters in Lagos. Have you really lived in Lagos if you have not had the one chance experience? Whether there was a “caught”, a narrow escape or you were among the sharp ones that called off their bluff. There is usually the 419 experience for Lagosians Either as a newbie or an old layer.

It’s the Christmas season and what better time to relive these experiences than the Christmas period when their operations are rampant.

I have had the experience, my siblings have had their own fair share too but my cousin had the lion’s share. I am contemplating whether to tell these stories in series or just type till the spirit asks me to stop, either way I shall type the story.

My brother and I had a hearty conversation about how someone was about to run us street in this Lagos, this colloquial term means that someone wants to dupe us, not even considering the fact that we were born and bred in Lagos. Our Parents have also stayed in Lagos for almost four decades. This gist made me recall something that happened years ago to one of my cousins from the village. The story still makes us laugh so hard each time we get the chance to talk about it. He entered the bus they refer to as one chance bus and was duped by fraudsters known as 419 guys in Lagos. He was even hypnotized and he stole a lot of money from his boss to give these guys. But the truth is that but they thrived on his thirst for easy money, as they told him that they wanted to buy chemicals to help double the money and make him very wealthy. After which he will travel to Europe to spread the gospel of Christ.

A popular line used for him was “Matthew! Mathew! Mathew ! and his response was “speak my Lord for your servant heareth” awon scammers with a touch of Christianity they sha ran my guy street after which they dropped him somewhere and ran away with the money.

My personal experience took place last year in Ikate Lekki, I was rather unimpressed by their tactics because it is the same one I have been hearing about since I was a child. I am still very grateful that God chose to spare my life and He gave me an easy way of escape. I hastily got into a cab that was going towards my house and few minutes after I entered the driver and the woman sitting next to me were engaged in a heated argument.

This argument was about her luggage at the booth of the vehicle, the driver complained that he suspected foul play because her luggage was too heavy. In the heat of the argument, the driver then stopped the car abruptly and asked me to interfere/settle the matter at hand because the woman had a full bag of American Dollars in the booth. He then suggested that since she

she refused to tell us the origin of such a huge sum of money, he demanded that she gave us our share. Omo that was my cue, these guys wanted to scam me, because at the sound of dollars many Nigerians would throw caution to the wind and follow the money. As the driver parked by the bus stop, I quickly alighted as if I wanted to cross-check the dollars and I ran towards a filling station to stay among sane humans, wetin concern me with dollars wey I no work for. That was how God spared my life before they hypnotize me and I start doing their bidding.

The moral of this story is that many of these fraudsters feed off your curiosity, greed, or your hunger for quick moneymaking schemes.

So guys have you ever heard about the 419 guys? What has been your experience with fraudsters in Lagos or anywhere in the world? Let’s hear your gist in the comment section.