I was surfing the web, doing nothing particular and doing it pretty well. I received a message. This wasn’t just any message. It was a special message from a special kind of person- a Nigerian. I expected the classic Nigerian scam AKA The Royal Prisoner. I was wrong. He didn’t want my money. He wanted something quite different.
After chatting about the meaning of the spiral, he asked me to be his master.He actually used the word master. I know what you’re thinking. This was not some sadomasochistic desire. He wanted me to be his spiritual guide.Why? I don’t know. I don’t know what exactly he was asking, or why I did what I did. But, I said yes.
In our chatting he expressed a desire to have me as a Godfather. He says he loves me like a brother. He wants to come stay with me after he graduates college. We’re chatting as I write this. life is strange.
I left out some things and missed the edit window.
His last name is what you would expect. But his first name is Godstime. I have no idea if this is ‘God’s Time’ or not.
It took me a while to discover his level of fluency with English. After much talking, I came to realize that he understands it like a native speaker(which he may be. He’s just a bad typist and uses lazy abbreviations.
Oh, I don’t know. I still don’t get a scam vibe from him. I think he’s just an insane man who’s developed a fixation on me. Perhaps in the months before he graduates, I’ll come to trust him.
In any case, we’re seperated by an ocean and he has nothing more specific than ‘I live in the city of Philadelphia’.
Spiral is the name I was using. Godstime, messaged me and asked if I knew what my name meant. I answered that the spiral is the symbol of a trap that can only be escaped by thinking and acting in three dimensions. Only radical thinking can lead to freedom. He was impressed.
You have more patience than I do, that’s for sure. If I get the slightest “batshit insane” vibe from a random internet contact, they get blocked/ignored permanently.
Linguistic factoid: The official language of Nigeria is, in fact, English. There are over 500 languages in use in the country and while all children learn the languages associated with their own ethnic groups, they have to learn English for school and government, to be able to communicate with everyone outside of their groups.
This is an entertaining website for Nigerian scam baiters. Did I see this on this board first??
Lots of Nigerian and other West African scammers in Bangkok. Best be careful if you do try to bait them. I’ve heard of them turning nasty if they know where you, or your family, are.
He’s a complete stranger
He’s from Nigeria, the world capital of innovative fraud
He’s asking you to enter into some kind of binding agreement with you
Sorry, I think it’s a scam. He will invent some complication (lost passport, emigration papers, or whatever) and will say something to the effect “I will send you a check for $5000 - cash the check and send me back $2000 in cash, and keep the rest for yourself”. The check will bounce and you’ll be out $2000.
I don’t see this thread turning into anything other than a pile on of people telling you to drop this person without a thought. I hope you were not expecting happy thoughts.
He is just building your trust. Before long, something horrible will happen to him and he will need help. And I don’t mean prayers or good thoughts. He will be asking for money or personal information. Cut it before that happens.
You don’t know he is overseas. He could be typing from the computer in your local library.
You don’t know for sure that he has no personal info on you (other than “city of Philadelphia”). The world is full of spybot programs and keystroke logging programs, etc. Has he sent you any email attachments , pics, etc.? If not, he seems to have won your confidence enough that he may be planning to send you some soon.
Are you doing something dangerous by staying in contact with this guy? Maybe.
And am I paranoid? Maybe.
It’s your decision…but don’t be naive.
Oh, I’m not being naive. I just think there’s a greater danger of his killing me, eating my brain, and getting busy with my corpse than there is of a scam.
I think there’s a far greater chance of it being a scam than it being a genuine request. The thing absolutely reeks of scam, or at least it does as far as you’ve described it. He’ll ask you for help cashing a check.
I find it interesting that so many are weighing in as if the OP was an innocent who just discovered this intraweb thingy. I read it as someone idly amused by a random on-line encounter. Certainly that’s how I used to react to some of the more* interesting* people who would randomly IM me. Even before I ever heard of the Nigerian scams, I certainly wouldn’t have gone beyond an on-line relationship with any stranger.
Frankly, Doc C, your conversations with this guy could be entertaining, weird, or disturbing, but easily terminated. I assume you’ve got common sense, so I won’t jump to the conclusion that you’re going to give your credit report to this guy.
Neither are some of the people who get taken for a ride. These scams are designed to be believable. Designed to make you say “Yeah, I know there are bad people out there, but this guy sounds so genuine…”
What is a spiral? Master?