The secret lives of romance scammers

2026-06-11

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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 L...

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 the scam… on both sides!

Here is our Spotify playlist of all the stories about scams and scammers that we’ve had on the show.

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