In a certain far country, lots of monkeys thrived in a big forest near a small remote village. One day a foreign businessman called Ibu-Alahaji came to the village in search of monkeys to buy.
The businessman announced that he would pay ₦5,000 for each monkey captured and brought to him alive. The villagers thought he was crazy! How can somebody in his right senses buy stray monkeys for ₦5000 each? He must be a "jonny-just-come"!
Even then, a few people went into the forest, caught a few monkeys and brought them to the businessman to buy; and he gave them ₦5000 for each monkey.
This wonderful news spread like wildfire amongst the villagers, and that made many more people to go into the forest to catch more monkeys and sell to the businessman.
The monkey stock in the forest started diminishing and it became more difficult to catch monkeys.
So the businessman announced that he would now pay ₦10,000 for each monkey! By now, even the laziest villagers ran around to catch the remaining monkeys in the forest, and sold them for ₦10,000 each. Now all the monkeys were almost completely gone!
Then the businessman announced that he will now pay ₦25,000 for each monkey brought to him alive! The villagers began to lose sleep! They caught about seven or eight more monkeys, which was all that was left in the forest, and happily received ₦25,000 for each of them.
Then they waited anxiously for "what next?"
Then the businessman announced that he was going away for a brief one week rest; and as soon as he returned, he was going to buy monkeys for ₦50,000 each! And he asked his 'trusted' assistant to take care of the many monkeys he had already bought, and now safely kept in cages.
The businessman went away and the villagers were very sad because there were no more monkeys left in the forest for them to catch and sell for ₦50,000 when the businessman returns.
Then the 'trusted' assistant quietly told the villagers that he will help them by secretly selling his master's monkeys to them for ₦35,000 each. This 'secret deal' spread like wildfire in the village!
Since the businessman will buy monkeys for ₦50,000 each when he returns, there is a ₦15,000 profit margin to be made on each monkey. It was a good deal!
The next day the villagers queued-up in front of the cages to buy monkeys.
The 'trusted' assistant sold all the monkeys to them for ₦35,000 each. Some of the rich villagers bought a whole lot of monkeys. The poor ones even borrowed money from money lenders to buy monkeys as well.
The villagers took care of, and provided food and water for the monkeys; as they patiently waited for the businessman to return.
After the promised one week vacation, nobody came.
They rushed to see the 'trusted' assistant. But he also had already left too. The villagers then realized that they had bought the useless stray monkeys for ₦35,000 each and are now unable to sell them. What a Monkey Business!
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Now that you know their basic strategy, beware! Nice, sweet and titillating promises, rewards and profits are placed before you, just to draw you out. Before you know it, you are duped. Don't be greedy!
If a deal seems too good to be true, you better watch out! It probably is a scam! Real Businesses are always based on genuine and real Products and Services. Be wise!
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