Yahoo Boy Reveals New Tactics To Evade Harassment, Arrest

A 34-year-old man, who is better known as Don Dee in the Somolu area of Lagos state, has revealed the new tactics deployed by internet fraudsters popularly known as ‘Yahoo yahoo’ to evade harassment and arrest from the law enforcement agencies in the country.

The graduate from the Olabisi Onabanjo Univeristy, Ogun State, who pleaded not have his real name put online, told The Punch that the failure to find a job three years after leaving school pushed him into cybercrime, adding that he had made quite a fortune, establishing a few investments and significantly scaling up his living standard.

Despite boasting about having two exotic rides – a 2015 Acura ZDX and a 2016 Lexus RX 450h – Don Dee now has to rely on commercial transportation especially taxis ordered through mobile applications to move around town during the daytime.

He lamented that he’s only allowed to rock his ‘machines’ these days at night, adding that “this is part of the strategy many of us adopt these days just to avoid attracting undue attention to ourselves especially from SARS operatives and other law enforcement agencies constantly on our trail.”

“If you drive these big cars during the daytime, you’ll only be inviting these people to come after you and make life difficult for you. But at nighttime, the harassment is very low, so you could move around peacefully with your flashy car even though you still have to give the regular tips to policemen who are on the road,” he said.

Apart from largely relying on public transportation to meet up with important appointments during the daytime nowadays, the young man also keeps away all expensive items like jewellery and also appears as simple as possible to avoid giving himself away as a ‘Yahoo’ or ‘Gee boy’ as some prefer to call them.

In addition, the hotel Don Dee and his friends live in is said to be owned by a retired military officer, thereby making the place a fortress and very difficult for other law enforcement agencies to burst and make arrests. Though accommodation there is more expensive than in most hotels in its class, patrons like the ‘Internet hustlers’ say the peace they experience at the place compensates for every other thing.

“I have a house in town but I hardly go there for security reasons,” the young man continued.

“The SARS guys would always get that information and come after me just to collect money. It is for that reason that I and my guys stay in this hotel because they cannot come in here to pick anyone. They know the man who owns this place and won’t dare to come in here,” he added boastfully as one of the other two men signalled a hotel staff to deliver a bottle of a popular brand of whisky, an energy drink, small bucket of ice and a few glass cups to the table where the friendly interaction was taking place.

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