Ploy

I trusted you Ryun, Okeke you too? You do this to me?

My scammer bought me dinner

Ryun /ˈruː.ɪn/

I had been frequenting my telegram app lately, as most of my school materials were saved there, away from the craziness of the notorious green app, so it was only normal for me to open the app yesterday around 3:34 pm to find a message from “Ryun”. Now now, I am a fairly sceptical person, you see, and on good days I can spot mischief a mile away, so I did what anyone should have done, opened the chat, clicked on the profile (+234, definitely a Nigerian), checked if the user has had a name change recently or altered their profile details (they had in the last two days before texting me), identify the name currently in use (Ryun — definitely not a nigerian name and a common feature of omo ogbons in this part of the world), only then will I decide if to respond or not, at this point I decided I would not be entertaining the conversation with Ryun.

> Be me
> checks account balance and takes out the last withdrawable amount to buy potatoes
> gets home
> realises that was my transport fare back to school
> chuckles in danger
> remembers exam is in three days
> chuckles in academic danger

As I sat there wondering what I would do about my current predicament and how I would get back to school, because life really does happen fast when you’ve eaten the last equivalent good meal you can afford, and I had come to the conclusion after multiple visits to my various bank apps, that I was set for life, provided that that life ended this morning. Until I got another text from Ryun—

“Hello! Sorry to bother you. We are currently hiring for part-time online positions. Work-from-home is supported.

This task takes just 3–7 minutes to complete.

Compensation:2100-420000NGN

Would you like to try? Simply send <Okay> to get started.”

— and I thought, “what if I just take a shot at this, I mean I already know his aim, I can just up and leave whenever I want”, you don’t win the shots you don’t take, yeah? *winks.

So there I went, on an adventure with Ryun as I responded “Okay”, I mean, he didn’t give me a second option, yunno? He proceeds to ask my age, to which I respond, and he quickly reacts with a heart emoji— I always knew I was lovable—, then sends me a group invite, one with a popular online marketplace I’m familiar with, but then I thought Jumia’s logo was orange, not purple, isn’t it? Well, what do I know, here’s my chance to attain generational wealth— 420,000 per day for 30 days, 12.6m, multiply that by the remaining half of the year, 75.6m—, I could already see myself in Zanzibar bungee jumping. I proceed to join the group, a private group, just me and two other admins, but then the circle of people in wealth is small, right?

The admin proceeds to talk about tasks and sends in three tasks, nothing out of the ordinary, non-sketchy links, just click, take a screenshot, send proof and get paid, easy peasy, what could go wrong? I breeze through the tasks, send the screenshots and wait for payment— the road to wealth is a freeway—.

The admin tells me my manager will reach out to me soon—I have a manager already? I should buy a suit soon—, and yes, as if prompted by the exact time the message dropped, I get another direct message, an entire inverse to Ryun, so yes, let’s go over it again like before, click on the profile (mobile number hidden, might be a Nigerian), check if the user has had a name change recently or altered their profile details (they hadn’t, but instead they had a four option definitely AI generated nigerian woman living the life as it seems), identify the name currently in use (Ifeoma Okeke — definitely a nigerian name and a contrast to Ryun to feel more trusting and relaxed). I respond to her quickly— first impression on your manager matters, innit?—she asks for my details and in 5 minutes I received my first wage, a whooping 2100 naira as agreed— a well balanced amount that even caters for my whitdrawal charge fee of 100 naira—, I send her a screenshot of the notification at her request, making sure to blur out my actual balance of 2145.78 naira—please keep the comment, these are trying times—.

She asks if I’d like her to reserve me a spot moving forward, as spots are limited— by all means, ma’am, at least 2100 per day for 5 minutes worth of tasks?— I’ll take the spot please, I respond, and she tells me the tasks start by 10:00 am, and I waste no time setting my alarms— the wealthy don’t slumber—, and to close the day, she tells me,

“I hope this work of ours will help you ease the burden of your life, see you tomorrow!!”

A manager who considers the deteriorating state of the economy? I could see myself dropping out of school to focus on the job already.

I went to sleep a happy man with 2145.78 naira and a new job that promises more. Life really is good, and we’re so back!

Ruin /ˈruː.ɪn/

Fast forward to today, I woke up with an aura of incoming wealth, proceed to check my phone to see I’m not late for work, I join in promptly and the task seems similar to yesterday, but today’s link looked sketchy, they no longer led to the Jumia app, they just open a phishing page in the browser— I trusted you Ryun, Okeke you too? You do this to me?—

I overlook it, I take my screenshots and send, waiting to get paid, and in came another task, purchase any of the product from your own pocket-ses and send a screenshot to get refunded plus profit, the least item being 15,000 naira—Okeke that’s 7.14x how much I made last night—, this was followed by a set of theatrics, fellow group members asking the same questions on your mind—three more people got added overnight—, “Do we pay from our pocket?”, “How do we get the payment back?” yada yada yada. I go quiet, watch the group, and soon enough, I get a text from my manager, asking if I saw the tasks— who ratted me out to my manager—, I tell her I dont understand and she runs me the same explanation again, but now in office lingo, I reply with an “Oh” and went offline—maybe I really should be reading for my exams—.

I come back online, and I’ve been booted from the group— I guess that is an equivalent to being fired, right?—

sigh, sighlas, sigheed.

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p.s. I am still looking for new job opportunities as I will be on holiday for a long period of time after my exams. I’m a creative, and I do a wide range of things. I will also have you know that I am an Occupational Therapist too. Anyways, here’s my linktree, you’ll find my cool works and paintings there, https://linktr.ee/abdroqeeb.

Until my next adventure, Ciao.