The American Picker Scam

Or How An Increasing Number of Westerners are Scamming the Scammers (Or So They Believe)

Monetary transactions, even those with complete legitimacy, occuring between a Western nation and the typical African nation always feel at least slightly unclean. When dealing with Nigeria specifically, it’s a nightmare to try to convert paper USD in America to paper naira in the hands of a Nigerian friend. Can’t just buy naira as a relative nobody who is an outsider. Wire transfers aren’t always guaranteed. MTN Mobile Money doesn’t work as streamlined as other nations (i.e. Ghana). Cashapp, Paypal, Chime, Venmo, and a plethora of other fintool applications just aren’t available to Nigerians. If you are a young adult in America sending money to a young adult in Nigeria, chances are you’ll be sending BTC. The Nigerian will sell the BTC to some other semi-random Nigerian who is offering vendor services. Rates aren’t static and there’s nothing preventing a vendor from taking your BTC and leaving.

Many of these transactions from America to Nigeria are questionable. Some are fraudulent. How does the fraud typically work?

A Nigerian or other individual (who we’ll refer to as “owner” given it will be the term used to describe the person who is believed to own the criminal proceeds) implements a scam targetting a variety of individuals in wealthier countries. The ones who take the bait for the scam are referred to as clients. For this example, the scam is a rental scam where the…