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Web3, the notion of a decentralised internet powered by blockchain technology, has introduced new scams that are masked in legitimacy and perpetrated through social media. Drawing on interviews and social media data, the study reveals that Web3 fraud thrives among African youth due to economic hardship and weak regulatory oversight. It contends that Web3's ethos feeds a population embroiled in the quest for survival, creating an avenue for manipulation in a largely unregulated space. Here, two kinds of fraud thrive: the use of Web3 as a smokescreen by fraudsters and 'community as bailout' coupled with the 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) as an entrapment, thus revealing how 'communities' become exploitative tools within digital economies of trust. It stresses the need for increased Web3 literacy and clearer oversight as essential to addressing fraud, and situates 'Satoshi-Pablo' as a framework for understanding how innovation and exploitation co-exist in Nigeria's digital landscape.
Dare Adegoriolu (Tue,) studied this question.