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The other side of the divide
By Felix | February 15, 2008
When the tables turn and you are in the position of the victim, you get to really understand the weight of what you have done or what you are doing. I remember a certain time while I was still on the streets, I was broke and desperate and needed money badly, so I went online in search of hackers who do transfer of funds account to account. The way this worked is you get an account from an unsuspecting victim, give me a story of how you are expecting funds from a client in the U.S or U.K (i.e which ever country the hacker has an account from). Then you let him know you need his account to get this funds out since you are outside that country at the moment handling another contract and the juicy part for him is he gets to keep a percentage of whatever funds pass through his account for you.
This almost always worked, because all he (the victim) had to do was provide his account details which will be funded by the hacker and then you call him up when this is done, he makes a withdrawal and send you your part of the money. Few days later his bank calls him up and starts investigating the funds when the real owner of the account the funds were taken from blows the alarm.
Anyway let’s get back to the pie of the day. Because I was broke and desperate, I went online looking for hackers who will do this for me, since the contacts I had on the streets were tossing me to and fro. After about a week of sleepless nights of endlessly browsing in search of a hacker for partnership, I got in touch with one, who could answer all my prayers, I almost worshipped this guy, because he could do more than I was looking for, we chatted for close to 6hours brainstorming and exchanging ideas, it was like a match made in heaven, he had all the skill I wanted, and I had all the clients we could use.
All the things he said he could do sounded too good to be true… and I learned one very good lesson from the experience, anything that’s sounds too good to be true most likely is.
It’s like the story of the hunter who catches monkeys without shooting them and without the conventional traps. He just puts a shiny object in a jar and leaves it by the trees, the monkeys liking the glow of shiny things will be attracted to it and when the monkey puts its hand inside the jar to take the shiny object, because its hand forms a fist it won’t be able to come out of the jar. This keeps monkey busy until the hunter gets there and catches it. If the monkey had thought of letting go of the object, it would have escaped.
This story likens to all of us at one point in our life, when all we would have just done was let go.
Let’s go back to the pie… before I start another story from this. After chatting with my new found partner, the next morning I was already day dreaming about the kind of cars that will be parked in the garage of my new house …(lol), and all the beautiful things I will do with the hundreds of dollars I was going to making on each transaction. And when I reflect back, to the whole incident, the reality of life being a big maze that needs little pieces to fit in and finally the whole puzzle makes sense.
To cut the long story short, I was scammed by this hacker. How? I had to send money to my supposed hacker who claimed to be in the U.S and he said I should send $350 to him in e-gold (e-gold is an online currency backed by gold, used to make transactions online), now we were supposed to be dealing in percentages of the transactions we pull together, but since he said I was the one who will cash the money’s from the transactions and send him his part, he convinced me to go out of the conventional and commit some money upfront for the test transaction, now there are two twists to this story, but before I get into them, how I got really stupid to allow myself to be scammed I will try to explain here.
I felt or should I say I was convinced for a long time it was due to how desperate I was at that time, I couldn’t think clearly enough to weigh the odds against me that I went ahead and broke a street rule of trusting a fellow scammer who I hadn’t met face to face and who I couldn’t trace.
Now to get into the twists of the story, when I sit back now and look at the whole incident from a different perspective, I see two things clearly, one… that was the first time I had anything to do with e-gold, which till date, came to be the one of my major sources of my income, In fact a very good part of what I earned last year was from my e-gold transactions (I became a dealer).
Secondly when I got scammed by this same guy who got me connected with my major source of income today, I came face to face with what my victims in the past had felt when they suddenly realized they had been scammed. I don’t know if I can describe the feeling… let me try… I had mixed feeling of fear, insecurity, anger, hatred to add insult to injury I felt really STUPID! Because I saw all the signs yet I left all cautions to the wind.
Today as I write this story I realized that, no matter how much I would have tried, that incident was bound to happen, for because 2 things came from it that changed my life at two different points. I learned what my victims in the past felt and I knew what I was doing was really bad, because my conscience was pricked and at that point I started asking myself if I wanted to continue in that line of business.
The second thing is a connection to something (e-gold), at that time I didn’t make much of it, but when I finally made a decision to leave the streets. The online travel business I got involved with, we had to make payments through e-gold, I already had an e-gold account, knew what it was, because it was strange to a lot of people then. And I also knew where and how to get it. This got me in business, as I became an exchanger.
Till date that same account I got scammed from, that gave me an eye opener into the realities of life and the path I was to thread, is the same e-gold account that has fetched me good money, if you google my name today Felix Ekpa, a good part of the first results you get has something to do with e-gold.
That’s part of the IRONY of LIFE! The twist, turns, trials and the disappointments can turn out to become a big blessing or a major part of your life, and when i check how my life has turned out today, I give God the glory for sending that boy, (who is a Nigerian of course) to scam me.
Topics: my story |
February 15th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Felixo the e-gold merchant!
Hmmm… Life is indeed a maze and God is the master planner, His timing? ever perfect.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
A man should never be ashamed to accept when he has done wrong, which is but saying… that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Its good when we learn from our past and mistakes and make the best use of it.
When can I come for my tutorials.
Cheers.
February 16th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Oh i have mixed feelings on this one i remember many many day and nights crying my eyes out because of being scammed, being ‘STUPID’being cheated and lied to for years. I have always been an honest woman with a trusting heart, a QUALITY i will never change no matter the trials i have gone threw. When someone asks for help and i can help them i will, i have to, i cant live with the thought that, if i didnt help when asked what kind of God loving woman am i,’WHAT WOULD JESUS DO’. NOW what one does with what was given is between them n their God, they will get convicted of doing another wrong, and so be it, i cant live with convictions. Am i a lil wiser today because of what i have went threw, YESSSSSS,wisdom is a mighty fine gift to have by your side but in order to aquire it one must stumble and fall first. IT ALL equals out in the end. Felix..xxx hagd all…wink
February 16th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Feli zooooooooooo,
this story is scary and you just put me on track for wealth from e-gold, i have to learn from you and OPEN my eyes not to fall for them,
UP FELIX,
UP E-gold,
lol.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Beautiful piece of writing all through the story. I know if this piece were to be coming from the developed nations, it would have been great acclaimed and awarded.
Nigerians today that on the street are among the most intelligent and creative citizens in this nation. We can attest to this from this blog.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
What should I say About My Friend, I really do not have any things to say for now because I don’t know where to start from? All I can say is that God knows why he sent the guy to scam Felix because I know Felix too well to fail for such sorry so fast without thinking twice but God has his way of doing things which is beyond human imaginations.
June 1st, 2008 at 1:36 am
what made you look stupid yesterday has made you a great person today all thanks to God
June 1st, 2008 at 1:38 am
how i wish you can see the guy and thank him for what he has done in your life because he is the one God used to put light in your way
June 1st, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Whateva lies ahead!!whateva there was on ur journey into life!! Whateva d obstacle or price might be..JUST KIP MOVING ON N NEVA FEAR FOR UR PAST MISTAKES!! INSTEAD BECOME WISE N THANKFUL..
WATEVA 2MROW BRINGS R D TREASURES N THE PRICE OF A UR PAST N UR THANKFUL TODAY..
June 1st, 2008 at 2:05 pm
LIFE IS A JOURNEY!!
KIP IT REAL
XXX1