The poorest people are often the most susceptible to scams. This may be because they want the most and they’re simultaneously the most willing to sacrifice the most for these wants. I believe this statement to be true because I met a man a few months ago who would have me believe he was sent from God and that he could see my future and past.

Sotoday, I’m going to tell you a story. It is a tale of hope, desperation, and caution, or rather, the dangers of these things.

On a rather lovely evening a couple months ago, I encountered a man on my walk home from work whom I’ll refer to only as “The Prophet.” He never called himself a prophet, but you’ll understand why I call him that when you read about our encounter.

Chance Encounters

So, on this day, I left my office and took a stroll as I often do. This raggedy-looking man stopped me on the sidewalk and started speaking to me, I had to take off my earphones to listen. The first thing I noticed about him, was he only had one eye, he looked tattered and I thought he was going to ask me for money. I tried really hard not to judge but I was judging.

He instead asked me for directions to a church. I had no idea where the church was and I told him so. Yet, he kept talking and just wouldn’t let me walk away even though I’d made it clear I could not help him.

Every time I attempted to put my earphones back on and leave, he’d talk to me again. He offered me more information about the church I hadn’t asked for. He’d say “I’m here for a program…. My phone is dead and I can’t call my people for directions… I’ve only been talking to illiterate people, they gave me bad directions….” etc…

I started getting frustrated because I really wanted to just enjoy my walk and my music and I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just let me go. I also have this thing where I can’t cut someone off when they’re venting and he seemed sad and frustrated. But just then, Miraculously, another dude, let’s call him “Crucio“, showed up and our prophet asked him for directions just as he had asked me earlier.

To everyone’s delight, Crucio knew exactly where the church was and he delivered instructions on how to get there. Ideally, this should’ve been the end of the story, but this is where it begins to get Juicy.

Sadly, the directions Crucio gave our prophet conveniently sent him straight down the road Crucio and I were already walking on and now all three of us were walking in the same direction.

Appreciation and then some

Our prophet thanked Crucio and me for giving him the time of day. He explained that most people had ignored him because they assumed he was just going to ask for money (Like I did). The prophet then proceeded to pray for us. You know, typical Nigerian stuff, or so I thought until he started to prophesy.

In a much faster tone that sounded almost like in a rap, he told me to make sure I pack up all of my hair from the barber shop whenever I get a haircut. He said this was because my enemies were out to steal my “glory” from severed hair strands. I was surprised because I always thought I was a pretty likeable person. He also advised that I never walk barefoot outside because of these same enemies, but I choose to believe that’s mostly for hygienic reasons.

I nodded and thanked him for his great wisdom because how else does a sane person react to that? A sane person could’ve also walked away, but now I was as invested in the story as I suspect you are. Things got juicy when he spoke to Crucio and also gave him revelations. I didn’t hear what was said as I wasn’t interested. Our prophet then walked off briskly after speaking to Crucio.

Perfectly Convenient Stories

I thought this ended a weird day, but Crucio was smitten. He could not believe how accurate the prophet was. He asked me if I knew the prophet and I told him I didn’t. He asked again if the prophet had told me anything about myself and I confirmed.

Crucio then proceeded to share his backstory with me. He told me his dad had been sick and blind for weeks, he also explained that he was out hustling for money to fund his trip home to see his dad. Crucio explained that these things he’d just told me were secrets he had not shared with anyone (well, except me now), yet somehow the prophet knew of it. Essentially, Crucio had confirmed everything the prophet said about him to be 100% accurate. This was independent third-party confirmation that I had encountered a great man of God.

Now this is where I began to feel uneasy, because why would the prophet’s foresight work so well on Crusio, but not on me. I thought we were bros. Crucio asked if I knew the Prophet’s number, but I didn’t. He said he had to get it and ushered me along.

So Crucio runs after the prophet and stops him. I walk casually behind and I ponder if I should go home or if the gist is worth it. Curiosity may have a reputation for killing cats, but it wasn’t enough to keep me away from the events unfolding in front of me.

I catch up with them and listen in. Our prophet seems almost disappointed. He says to me, “When a man tells you things like I just did, you ask questions, you dig deeper”. My man was feeling himself at this point and I just wanted to enjoy my walk.

Crucio says to him “The things you told me about my father are all true, how did you know?” I’m quite surprised they’re still at this stage of the conversation tbh, coz it took a minute for me to catch up. I guess NPCs don’t converse when the Player’s not present.

Anyway, the prophet drops more divine wisdom and blows Crucio’s mind to smithereens. He tells Crucio that his father was wicked to some woman and the woman planted a charm on Crucio’s father’s land and that’s what did him in. He tells Crucio to travel home ASAP and do some stuff to save his father or else his father will die in 3 days. 3 is such a mythical number.

Crucio gobbles this up and gets the prophet’s phone number. Then on cue, Crucio walks away to think things through, leaving me and the prophet to some quality alone time. I have to admit, I couldn’t wait to see what he could tell me about my life.

Ex-girlfriends and dark magic

The prophet says my destiny is to be abroad, in some fancy place like Canada. He says I’m supposed to be the breadwinner of my family, the star of it, I was destined for great things. So why aren’t I in Canada? Well, the prophet tells me that someone has stolen my “star” and I gasp in horror.

He tells me a beautiful story about how my father’s ex-girlfriend was so distraught at the thought of my father marrying my mother, that she did some voodoo on me. Me! My father’s fourth and last child. She skipped 1 through 3 for some reason and attacked his most attractive kid. Regardless of her logic, this voodoo now prevents me from reaching the heights I was destined for.

“So how do we fix this?” I ask. The prophet evades my question and throws some rapid-fire bible verses at me instead. He then asks if I really want to be free, if I really want to unlock my destiny. I assure him that I do.

This whole time we’re all still walking. Prophet and I catch up to Crucio again who was just lazing slightly ahead of us, as if waiting for Act 2, Scene 1. The Prophet goes around in circles for a while, saying a lot of stuff that doesn’t really mean anything. Finally, he asks what I would do if I got my “glory” back. He asks if I would help the poor, help the orphans and all that. I assure him that I would, that I love to help people. He asks the same of Crucio and Crucio confirms.

Now, I’m just bored. I’d been running the numbers in my head every step of the way and I concluded there was no way this dude was serious. However, I still had no idea why the Prophet had done everything he had so far, he hadn’t asked for money, he hadn’t asked anything of me. I want to see how it ends, but I worry I’m getting carried away and I set a timer on my phone. “5 more minutes and I’m out”.

Prophecies, Destinies, and Currencies

After a short intermission, the Prophet finally returns to my case and slowly begins to proffer a solution but his solution makes zero sense. He draws my attention to a streetlight and points at the dirt under it. He says I have to walk up to 10 of these around the city and get the soil from around them.

It was at that moment, that my curiosity died and I realized I should’ve just gone home at the beginning of this. My father’s ex can keep the glory, I’m doing fine without it. I thanked him for his time and I told him that unfortunately, I needed to go back to work (I didn’t).

Concerned, he asks if I don’t care about unlocking my star, my glory. I explained to him that while my star is very important to me, I need to get back to the office because we’re having a work emergency. I called my sister (improv queen) and I faked a conversation about the boss needing me and she just ran with it. Top-tier acting.

As I proceed to leave the group, he says to me, “Do you have N500?” I looked through my wallet and replied “I don’t, but here’s a thousand.” He took the thousand, he thanked me, I thanked him and we parted ways. That was the end of my encounter with the prophet and Crucio, I never got to unlock my star.

I definitely did not need to lie about a work emergency to excuse myself, but I enjoyed doing it and it felt more polite. The entire operation had holes in it. I hoped it was a low-budget Facebook skit or something but there were no cameras.

Lessons Learnt

Now back to our opening remarks about susceptibility to scams. I felt the biggest problem with the operation was that the prophet tried to sell emigration as a dream to me. It wasn’t something I was longing for and there was never a worthy prize for me. For many others in our country, leaving Nigeria is a great prize that they would pay anything for. Potentially including whatever the prophet was gunning for, because I doubt N500 was his endgame.

These scams feed off the desperation and suffering of many people which makes them willing to give anything and try anything to ensure a better life. Things such as trusting a one-eyed prophet who says your father’s ex-girlfriend is the reason for your suffering.

I will always wonder what he really wanted from me, and it hurts that I never got to find out. There was just too much foreplay and I ran out of patience.

In the end, sadly, there’s a fundamental link between prophecies, destinies and currencies. Although we never got to see the end of the plot, it’s a good guess that money was the end goal. It was what the prophet wanted and it was what he tried to sell to me via my stolen “glory”.

During our interactions, there were lots of things that didn’t add up or things that added up too perfectly. I may never be able to confirm my suspicions, but I’m fairly certain Crucio and the Prophet were working together for a myriad of reasons. It just hurts me I never got to see the objective of their beautiful plan.

I did learn a few things from Crusio and the Prophet. It’s a simple fact, that when something seems too good to be true and events line up too conveniently, it’s probably a scam. Let me know in the comments if you think it was a scam and what the signs were for you. Also, let me know if you think I just missed my chance to unlock my “glory”.

I should add that, at no point during this ordeal did I ever feel like I was at risk of physical harm or robbery. That’s probably why I never just vanished, I was truly intrigued and I wanted to see how it would all end. If anything, I felt my intellect was the only thing being assaulted. It’s undoubtedly best practice to just walk away from situations like this.

That being said, I would not advise playing along for as long as I did if you suspect foul play in such a situation.

I often wonder how people end up running scams and how they rationalize their actions, I wrote about how people are naturally good and how I came to that conclusion. If you’d like to know more about our natural inclination to good or evil, then read Inherent Goodness: The Justification Factor

Thank you!