💔Romance scammers, particularly those known as “Yahoo Boys” (a term for cybercriminals often based in Nigeria and other parts of West Africa who specialize in online fraud, including romance scams),
🗣️This slang is part of their identity to themselves, where they treat scamming as a business or “hustle.” Victims are called “clients” , scammers can’t face the word VICTIMS
• Clients on a phone is not personal.
• Psychologically distance themselves from the harm they’re causing.
• Make it feel like a professional job rather than exploitation.
For example:
• Scammers “bomb” potential targets with messages.
• Then “bill” their “clients” by extracting money.
🗣️This language appears in undercover reports, investigative journalism (e.g., from WIRED, CBS News, and Le Monde), anti-fraud analyses, and even scammers’ own online tutorials and videos. It avoids negative terms like “victim”
Not all romance scammers use this exact term—it’s most associated with Yahoo Boys—but the practice of dehumanizing their targets is common across fraud networks to reduce guilt and maintain operations.
• 👉Client — The victim. Scammers refer to victims this way to make the scam feel like a legitimate service or transaction.
• 💣Bombing — Mass-messaging or contacting hundreds of potential victims on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, dating sites, or WhatsApp to see how many victims they can hunt and collect.
• 💸Billing — Requesting or extracting money from a victim. They don’t refer to it as Stealing…
it is billing, softens it in their mind and they can’t face STEALING.
• 📄Format — A pre-written script, template, or specific scam method (e.g., romance format, inheritance format, dating format, or investment format). Formats can be shared or bartered across different teams.
• 🗣️Grinding — Chatting or building a relationship with a victim over time to gain trust before billing.
• Aza — Bank account details or account number (used when asking victims or accomplices for transfer info).
• Wire — Transferring money, sent from scams.
• Mumu/Mugu — Another word for victim, meaning “fool” or “gullible person” •
Cash out — Successfully getting the money from a scam, a good transaction.
• HK (Hustle Kingdom) — A shared house, apartment, or “boiler room” where groups of Yahoo Boys live and work together on scams.Their teams are HKs.
• Yahoo Plus/where it involves rituals or “juju” (black magic) which because of their beliefs, they think helps the money come in. Anything from ‘Scam Soap’ to animal sacrifice.
👉👉This slang evolves and helps scammers communicate discreetly while avoiding platform moderation. It’s widely documented in sources like journalism (e.g., WIRED), anti-fraud reports, and studies on Nigerian cybercrime.
🗣️This slang is part of their identity to themselves, where they treat scamming as a business or “hustle.” Victims are called “clients” , scammers can’t face the word VICTIMS
• Clients on a phone is not personal.
• Psychologically distance themselves from the harm they’re causing.
• Make it feel like a professional job rather than exploitation.
For example:
• Scammers “bomb” potential targets with messages.
• Then “bill” their “clients” by extracting money.
🗣️This language appears in undercover reports, investigative journalism (e.g., from WIRED, CBS News, and Le Monde), anti-fraud analyses, and even scammers’ own online tutorials and videos. It avoids negative terms like “victim”
Not all romance scammers use this exact term—it’s most associated with Yahoo Boys—but the practice of dehumanizing their targets is common across fraud networks to reduce guilt and maintain operations.
• 👉Client — The victim. Scammers refer to victims this way to make the scam feel like a legitimate service or transaction.
• 💣Bombing — Mass-messaging or contacting hundreds of potential victims on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, dating sites, or WhatsApp to see how many victims they can hunt and collect.
• 💸Billing — Requesting or extracting money from a victim. They don’t refer to it as Stealing…
it is billing, softens it in their mind and they can’t face STEALING.
• 📄Format — A pre-written script, template, or specific scam method (e.g., romance format, inheritance format, dating format, or investment format). Formats can be shared or bartered across different teams.
• 🗣️Grinding — Chatting or building a relationship with a victim over time to gain trust before billing.
• Aza — Bank account details or account number (used when asking victims or accomplices for transfer info).
• Wire — Transferring money, sent from scams.
• Mumu/Mugu — Another word for victim, meaning “fool” or “gullible person” •
Cash out — Successfully getting the money from a scam, a good transaction.
• HK (Hustle Kingdom) — A shared house, apartment, or “boiler room” where groups of Yahoo Boys live and work together on scams.Their teams are HKs.
• Yahoo Plus/where it involves rituals or “juju” (black magic) which because of their beliefs, they think helps the money come in. Anything from ‘Scam Soap’ to animal sacrifice.
👉👉This slang evolves and helps scammers communicate discreetly while avoiding platform moderation. It’s widely documented in sources like journalism (e.g., WIRED), anti-fraud reports, and studies on Nigerian cybercrime.
