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How To Avoid A Holiday Giveaway Scam!

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Scam! Yes, it has happened to me! I am not pleased to admit it, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t happen. As I’m constantly on the socials, I enter myself into several giveaways. So, when I entered for this giveaway scam to the Canary Islands with flights, accommodations and spending money included I couldn’t say no. I mean who would?  

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I mean it looks pretty legit right?

The giveaway was supposed to be with CrystalTravel.uk – or at least I thought it was. The account had over 10.8k followers so I couldn’t believe I thought it was legit. I didn’t realise people still bought followers!

scam scam

All I had to do was tag my travel buddy, which to me was super easy. I, of course, tagged my babe and within a few days, I was sent a DM that I had won a prize to Tenerife for 10 days with £500 spending money! I mean I was over the moon I hardly ever win anything!  

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The DM sent to me to say congrats
I was fully gassed!

Your girl was already and planning her hairstyle and outfits she was going to take on this getaway. I quickly sent a message to my partner to let him know about the good news!

CrystalTravel was asking me for some personal information.  They asked me to send a picture of my passport and a picture of myself titled Crystal Travel. I was so excited to go I didn’t even consider that this might be a scam! Why would it be? 

I sent a copy of my passport despite ALL my work colleagues telling me to calm down and not too! In my head, I thought these guys don’t want me to be great! Of course, I am going to send what they have requested! It didn’t take long before I came back to earth. It was getting weird where they were sending me some bizarre responses, so I started asking questions.  

I went over to their official website, which they added to the bio of the fake account and messaged their online chat service.  They quickly informed me that it was a scam! WTF! A SCAM!! I couldn’t believe that I HAD JUST SENT OVER MY DETAILS AND THIS WAS ALL A SCAM!  

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is this a scam?

This was heart-breaking.  All those outfits I was planning had gone out the window in literally seconds.  

Short-lived, but I learnt a few things that I think you should know about them too. Below are three things to ask yourself before passing any details.

1. Don’t send any details to scammers  

To be honest with you it was extremely stupid of me to send over my passport details to these fraudsters.  I already knew that they didn’t need me to send passport picture to book a flight, but I think my excitement got the better of me and I just went with it.  

Don’t get like me and get so excited that you forget that there are scammers out there. And just because you would never do something like this to anyone doesn’t mean these people don’t exist.  

2. If you do send info contact the police and report the fraud  

You will need to contact the police and report that you have been scammed. You can report fraud in the UK via this link.

This protects you if anything goes wrong and your identity is used. You might also want to contact your banks etc. to let them know to watch out for any weird activity.  

3. Be careful of urgent deadlines  

When I was sent the message that I had won the giveaway they demanded I sent everything quickly. Nothing needs to be done immediately.  So, if you’re being asked to hit a deadline, something dodgy is probably going on. 

4. Don’t be afraid to ask questions  

In my case, I noticed that when I began to ask questions, i.e. go on the official website and ask about the giveaway I learnt it was a fraud. Once they got what they needed, I then noticed the Instagram account blocked me. Ask questions from the very beginning that way you can avoid scammers.  

Either way, there are scammers everywhere and sometimes they can get even the best of people. Cough cough, me.

What about yourself have you ever experienced something similar? Let me know in the comments below *no judgements*  

scam

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Could Nigeria Be Home Permanently?

Nigeria  is a country estimated of around 167 million people. English being it’s official main language with other languages, Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa. Its main religious beliefs are Christianity, Islam and indigenous beliefs. It is known to be the most populous country in Africa. Nigeria is one-third larger than Texas and is situated on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. The government today is run by a multiparty government which has formally been transitioned from a military to civilian rule.

As I sit in Nigeria I have to say that there is always something incredibly amazing and exciting about going home. Every time I do go back I fall more in love with my parent’s country. My parents are originally from Nigeria and although I was born and raised in England, I still consider Nigeria a country that I can call home.

For me going home has become very personal to me, it goes as far as growing up in a very predominately white neighbourhood where as a young child I knew nothing to very little about either of my parent’s cultures (my mother being Igbo and my father being Yoruba). However, as I have got older I have wanted to gain more knowledge and insight on my parents culture so when I did start going to Nigeria I began to really appreciate the country and gain real excitement  about learning something new, culturally or historically.

 Nigeria as a country, has and is becoming very important to me even up to today.

In the last year, I have encountered a growing number of young people who are considering, or have now gone back to Nigeria to start a new life, and with the lack of opportunities that young people appear to be facing in the UK, the Motherland does seem less far reaching than it has done previously.

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Me In Nigeria-wearing Delta Igbo traditional clothing.

Since I lived in Singapore as a student I have always had interest in moving abroad and starting a new life where there is opportunities for me to take so when my friend sent me this video  ‘Nigeria: the “repats” who have returned. It got me questioning myself on whether I myself would move to Nigeria.

Indeed there seems to be a fresh era of people who want to challenge the stereotypical views of Nigeria which, have been portrayed by the media and for some of us our parents.

But believe me when I say more and more young people are now seeing Africa in a new light and want to challenge the perception of the country by starting industries, building land and improving Nigeria’s country infrastructure and growing economy.

young people are now seeing Africa in a new light…

Someone like me that studied International Politics at Kings College London, being able to go back to Nigeria and get into the political industry has been seen to be a struggle amongst my family and peers. Nigeria  is perceived to be a country that suffers from huge political corruptions. However, there appears to be a new government… The new President Muhammadu Buhari has shown his quest to kill the high levels of corruption that lies heavily in this country (others may disagree).

So would I personally move to Nigeria?

For me I know that it would be exciting I have had past friends and family that have or are currently doing NYC who had said that the locals had said that for us “repats” coming to Nigeria was an adventure. Whilst this stereotype may be true there is a keen interest for “repats” to promote a new image of Nigeria as an upwardly mobile population who have masses of opportunities.

The more the year goes by, I am seeing more migrants return back to Nigeria not only just to visit families and friends, but also to launch business and to start new lives. It is becoming more and more acceptable to see Nigeria as the land where the economy is vastly growing, which inevitably is eradicating the portrayal ‘poverty porn’ image and negative stories of Nigeria.

If I was going to move to Nigeria I would need to convince my Farther first and I think I have a long way getting around that, but it is definitely something that I would never rule out of my life.

I personally would like to think that moving anywhere was an adventure, but at the same time I think that moving to Nigeria is a huge decision that could provide huge benefits for anyone that is willing to grab it with both hands. Even if you do not move at least go home to visit.

I don’t know guys … Maybe it is time to go home.

Remember:  It’s ok if life knocks you down, it’s just not ok if you stay down!

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