The Yahoo Boys: Real Life with the Love Scammers of Lagos

by Carlos Barragán

When his mother fell for an 'American soldier' who promised to send gold bars to their Madrid apartment, Carlos Barragán got to witness the painful aftermath of online romance fraud for himself. He set off on a journey to find his mother's scammer, but what he discovered was much a world of young Nigerian men who drag themselves out of destitution by catfishing lonely hearts in the US and Europe, in the process building a dizzying local economy from their phones.

THE YAHOO BOYS follows four scammers in the Lagos neighborhood of Ikotun. Through their twisting fortunes, Barragán discovers the psychological tactics they perfect, the economic desperation that drives them, and the moral dilemmas they face. A work of radical empathy, this astonishing debut reveals the human face behind a global phenomenon, and shows how isolation in the West and poverty in Nigeria are just two sides of the same screen.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

304 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication June 11, 2026

Reviews

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This was a rather fascinating read: while writing a book on modern day loneliness, the author decided to track down his mother's Nigerian romance scammer to find out why his mother fell for the ruse. Along the way he made several revelations about the nature of the scams and the people who commit them. Although he states at the end he never intended to do an academic study of romance scams and instead tell the story of four scammers, there are a lot of fascinating revelations in here.

The book is not about justifying or rationalizing the scammers or the victims; rather, it is an eye-opening analysis of the situation, focusing mostly on the scammers themselves in the form of 4 boys (and one female) scammer. Some were money laundering, some were impersonating celebrities, and other just stole profiles/images and used those. Both sides of the scam were neither vilified nor excused - the author does a good job of maintaining a very detached analysis that goes beyond black-and-white. This included socio-economics, loneliness epidemic, a system that creates the opportunities, and honestly a lot of people lying (both to themselves and others) on both sides of the ocean.

The interviews are very thorough and also include girlfriends, parents, and even a victim in one case. A big picture is created amidst the intimacy of the scams themselves.

Perhaps the most interesting revelation was that the scammers were not part of a sophisticated network or mastermind criminal groups and honestly were a bunch of very young and very foolish boys. Sadly, they weren't living life large on the ill-gotten gains but instead most blew through the money very quickly on drugs, ostentatious displays and profligacy. Getting to know the scammers' stories in no way made what they do/did forgivable but definitely made it easier to understand why it is done and why it is so successful. I also appreciated interesting observation such as a notation that men were far easier to scam and gave money faster but gave up sooner while the women victims took much longer but ultimately gave more in the end.

This is well worth the read, especially since it pointed out at the end where the next focus of scamming would go now that people are wizening up to romance/celebrity/pig butchering/Nigerian Prince scams. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[ebbl · Rating 5 out of 5]

"But what you've got to remember is what you're looking at is also you." –James Baldwin
This title is tagged true crime, but it feels much more like narrative journalism. Barragán shares vignettes of young Lagosians who work on their phones, getting paid through complex networks of gift cards and cryptocurrency. I found it moving and thought provoking: flex culture among poor young adults, internet English as a global (neocolonial) language, the glorification of entrepreneurship, prosperity gospel. Ultimately, I think about who we are versus who we show to the world (both in our daily interactions and online). The flexer who's still hungry, the hype man drinking water from an expensive bottle, the "Go for it!" woman who sits trapped by her husband, the Yahoo boy surrounded by friends at the club who feels most seen by the person he's scamming.