EXCLUSIVE The Nigerian scammers driving people to kill themselves... while laughing at their vulnerable victims' misfortunes: Cyber vigilante who infiltrates online gangs reveals horrors he has witnessed

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A mysterious cyber-vigilante who goes by the name Agent G9 has made it his mission to take down online scammers after his own relatives were conned, with devastating consequences.
Working undercover to protect his identity and family, Agent G9 infiltrates scammer operations, hacks into their systems, and even turns on their webcams, forcing them to stare at themselves mid-crime.
He's been behind several arrests, exposed dodgy fraudulent call centre bosses, and racked up over 4.6 million views on YouTube with his explosive videos.
In many of his clips, he confronts the con artists online, often leading to intense, foul-mouthed barbs.
Now, speaking exclusively to Mail Online, the self-taught sleuth opens up on the horrors he's witnessed, including victims dying after realising they'd been duped.
He also opens up about one person selling their house after falling in love with a scammer.
The digital vigilante has seen some of the darkest consequences of financial fraud.
He says: 'A teenage boy who was scammed was 15 or 14.
'He was duped by some people in Nigeria. They were sextorting and threatened to send out his nude photos if he didn't pay them money.
'The boy paid, and they still sent out the nude photos, and he decided to kill himself.
'I think it was in 2022, so cases like this are very common.'
Agent G9 adds: 'We've had a lady who was in her 90s. She unfortunately had a heart attack after finding out she got scammed, and she passed away.'
He also recalls a case in the US when a victim lost an eye-watering sum of money.
'We had this American victim lose about $17 million in a week through cryptocurrency and getting scammed. That was really extreme.
'The amount people lose can be tiny or really huge, and their reactions can be devastating.
Agent G9 confronts scammers by beating them at their own game - he hacks into their system and waits for the perfect moment to expose them.
Once inside the systems, he sees it all, including some of the cringiest things the scammers do while at their computer desk.
He says: 'A few days ago, someone in our team did say they saw a scammer pee in a water bottle, which makes no sense.
'I don't know if they really wanted to scam so badly that they just didn't want to go to the toilet and just start peeing in a water bottle.
'But apart from that, I've also seen them doing things like picking their nose, singing, and dancing. It's just funny moments.'
But what is no laughing matter is watching them celebrate.
'I also see them celebrating when victims send them funds, ' G9 explains.
'That speaks to the whole moral side of it because they know what they're doing is wrong and can cause devastating consequences for people. But they don't care.
'We've spoken to ex-scammers, and they say the same thing all the time - for scammers and their bosses, it's all about money.
'They love materialism, such as cars, watches, and expensive clothes. A materialistic mindset is what they go for, which is quite sad.
'They don't care about ethics and morals of being a human being.'
In one of his most popular videos, he confronted Nigerian scammers impersonating public figures online.
Some of the people being impersonated were G9's friends. Ironically, the scammers sent out messages informing victims that they can recover money they have lost through fraud.
Desperate to retrieve their lost funds, unsuspecting victims would give out their sensitive details.
He explains: 'Those Nigerian guys were being impersonators. You can run into them every day, especially on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, where people impersonate celebrities.
'They were impersonating trading experts and known people. They also did other scams on the side, especially romance scams.
'Some of them would ask for personal details like social security numbers in the US and collect benefits for the victims.
'They will then send them into their own bank accounts. They were involved in all types of scams.'
In one video, after a shocked conman's webcam is turned on, bringing his criminal activities to a halt, G9 tells him: 'Look at your scamming face.'
The perpetrator then replies: 'You're out of your mind, you motherf*****.'
Once in their system, G9 saw several items such as cheques sent by the victims, gift cards, and even Bitcoin transactions amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
On their servers, the vigilante also discovered several clues that they lived in affluent neighbourhoods in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, and were using victims' money to fund a luxurious lifestyle.
G9 watched patiently as one of the fraudsters, pretending to work for the US Department of Defence, picked his nose, butchered a song, and even danced while putting together a script for his schemes and researching his victims.
At one point, he even says a thankful prayer and does the sign of the cross once he hits a jackpot with a victim.
The fraudster even beams with joy when he tells a friend about how an American woman has sold her house to give him what he wants.
He also teaches a friend how to hack a Facebook account.
G9 was able to expose him by acting as an old lady who had just made a payment, prompting the oblivious conman to jump on a phone call with him.
After turning on his webcam, the scammer, in a state of panic, attempts to close down all his incriminating windows, not aware that G9 has already saved tons of evidence.
However, to G9's surprise, the scammer, unrepentant, opens up his laptop the very next day to continue his crime.
To ensure he pays for his activities, G9 sent all the evidence he had collected to Nigeria's cybercrime police.
One of his most jaw-dropping busts involved an alleged fraudulent call centre boss, Tyrone Chetty, who ran a company called Action Refund in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Employees would call victims pretending to offer them the opportunity to recover money lost online.
Chetty is said to have had managers who knew the nature of the business and other clueless workers who had no idea it was all a big con.
His accomplices would be given a bonus if they were able to turn over huge results.
Agent G9 was able to get access to the firm's CCTV footage and heard conversations where workers would gush about how much money victims are sending in.
In one video, after getting off the phone with a potential client, one worker laughs: 'Shannon sounds like she's 13. I wish they had stolen money from her so I could scam her.'
'When [Chetty] got exposed, he fired all of the scammers who were employees because he thought one of them told us what they were doing', G9 explains.
'He was all about money. He always came into the office wearing Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
'He drove a $60,000 car, which in South Africa is a lot. He would always take trips to Dubai with his family.
'It's quite sad seeing how these people think, not realising they are ruining lives and literally ending lives in some cases.
'He's shut down his call centre, and he's trying to stay under the radar from the police.'
In a confrontation over a phone call, Chetty and G9 engage in a heated conversation where the former accuses G9 of being 'unethical'.
While videos of Chetty operating from his call centre are online on G9's YouTube page, not all of his biggest wins make it to his highlight reels on the platform.
He explains: 'A lot of cases that we do aren't on YouTube for certain reasons, especially because we take down high, big criminal organisations.
'Sometimes you take down individuals who have strong links with certain people.'
In 2022 and 2023, G9 helped bust two massive operations in India, collaborating with the country's Central Bureau of Investigation.
It involved an international online investment fraud where scores of people around the world were cheated out of their hard-earned cash.
G9 says: 'It was a big operation in India called Operation Chakra II, and Operation Chakra III.
'With both these operations together, about 250 scammers were arrested and charged.'
'The main people behind the scam in Chakra III are still held behind bars with no chance of being bailed.
'They are also finding links to other scam call centres through these people that were arrested, which is amazing.'
Criminals have now deployed several tactics to scare their victims into coughing up cash.
G9 explains: 'We sometimes hear victims over the phone crying that they can't send money.
'We hear scammers pressuring them and telling them they'll be in trouble, they'll be arrested, that people will come and take their kids from them if they don't send the money.
'So scammers just do whatever it takes. And it's quite sad hearing different stories about what goes on.'
But thanks to his network, some people can get help.
'Sometimes we get victims emailing everyone in our team, telling us their story that they've been scammed already', G9 says.
'However, other times, since we're on the scammer system, we're able to see victims that are getting scammed in real time.
'What we would do is we would get the victim's information, such as a phone number, email, location, address, and send it over to our law enforcement contacts.
'They are instantly able to go and save the victim.
'It's great that we do have strong law enforcement contacts all over the US, and we have some around Europe.
'We also have Interpol, the FBI and homeland security - they do a real good job in helping us to prevent people from becoming victims and losing money.'
Agent G9's journey into cybersecurity started after someone in his family was conned.
'We reported the matter to police, to the banks, and nothing was done - it was five years ago, four years ago,' he says.
'Back then, if you got scammed, they didn't look into the matter, and it would have gone into the air.
How to avoid being scammed
Online scams result in financial losses of $1.03 trillion globally each year.
In the UK alone, an eye-watering £11.4billion was lost to online fraud, figures by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance show.
According to Agent G9, one of the biggest scams he and his teams have been confronted with is investment fraud and fake investment websites.
He advises that if things are too good to be true, they probably are.
Romance scam, he says, is one of a conman's most valuable tricks.
'You end up falling in love with someone, and they start telling you to send them money.
'Other times, they will say they can help you invest your money. They might say they are a trader or an investor. '
G9 adds: 'Another one is those fake refund emails from platforms Amazon and PayPal.
'They tell you there's been a payment and you need to cancel it.
'You might also get calls from fake phone companies or even Royal Mail telling you to give them your information.
'Never respond to anything or anyone you don't know.
'Fake Royal Mail emails saying there's a parcel waiting for you and you need to click something are just a phishing scam.
'When you receive these types of communications, take the time to ask yourself if this is a scam.'
He advises: 'If you have any queries about any phone calls from banks or phone companies, always go to them to ask if it's really from them.
'It's all about staying cautious online.'
'So I decided to take the matter into my own hands, and I began investigating and learning about scammers, online cybercrime and cybersecurity. That's how I started to learn in general.
'There's a lot to learn in cyber security in terms of hacking, ethical hacking and how to get into someone's system.
'You need to know how to stay anonymous online and the psychology of a scammer - basically how to socially engineer a scammer.'
Agent G9 knows his passion comes with risks - yet he's unfazed. He carries on despite the fact that he does not receive any funding.
He says: 'Most of the time, I know I am anonymous, and I do have legal people behind me helping me. I do have contacts at the police.
'I'm fully aware of the dangers... but it's all worth it.'