The secret lives of romance scammers

On this episode

About this episode

Unfortunately, a lot of us know someone who has been scammed… but how many scammers do you know? After reporter Carlos Barragán ’s mother fell victim to an online romance scam, he traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, to investigate the world of “Yahoo Boys,” as Nigerian scammers call themselves. He spent years getting to know these young men, earning their trust and reporting the most intimate details of their lives. This week, Carlos joins Reema to talk about his new book, “ Yahoo Boys: Love, Deception, and the Real Lives of Nigeria's Romance Scammers ,” and the complicated story he discovered about the social and economic forces that push people into these crimes. Plus, how loneliness is key to…