As Nigeria transits into a cashless society, the evolution also creates opportunities for internet scammers to take advantage of unsuspecting citizens. ABDULWASIU OLOKOOBA reports about how Nigerians are getting fleeced of their hard-earned money by internet fraudsters through ‘SportyBet’, a sports betting platform.
Last September, Adebayo Sherifdeen, a penultimate student at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, received a WhatsApp message from a user who was not on his contact list. The user identified himself as David Mark and claimed to be a staff of SportyBet company, a sports betting and online casino platform.
He said if Adebayo could register a SportyBet platform account, he was ready to help him multiply any amount he deposited on the site once he followed his instructions.
“He asked me if I would not tell anyone about the offer and showed me a clip to portray how he intended to multiply the money through the SportyBet platform with the aid of an app he claimed he had developed.
“As someone who did not know anything about betting before, I disregarded his messages at first. But after incessant messages from him convincing me that he brought an opportunity where I could make money, I gave in”, Adebayo narrated.
After a long conversation, Adebayo became a SportyBet account owner waiting for David Mark to help him multiply his first N1,000 deposit on the platform.
“He asked me to deposit any amount using my card details on my newly created…
