Bitcoin Forum

I was ashamed and embarrassed when I heard a Nigerian who scammed Trump of $250,000 and now our government is running here and there looking for the boys, we should think about the future of this boys, most of them are graduates and after several years of job hurting, they could not bear it again because the bad government can not provide jobs and their frustration led them to opportunity of crime scene, though am not in support of their actions and crime but poor leadership and poor economy system can cause their issues of crime. Thank God $40,000 is currently recovered from those guys and instigation is still on going. What do you think about this fraudulent criminals and government? Aren't they the same?

Bad government results to lesser jobs. And when there's less jobs, even the good people that cannot find any opportunity anymore will find opportunity in bad ways. While doing such shouldn't be tolerated and these guys have to be punished, they can still live somewhere and doing their things the normal way, not the crimes that they've done. While the discussion keeps going on, this will give more people the thought of what if the actual government are also the bad guys. Well, that's politics there and it will be an unending discussion.

That's true, checking at all nations where is no proper leadership and provision for job opportunities crime rate seem to be much high but these needs to be punished because lack of jobs is not excuse for criminal activities.

What's the authenticity of this information? Can you please provide me with a link to read full information? I haven't heard or read anything yet about this but government shouldn't be blamed for every bad action. Quite alright, I know the government is extremely bad and only few are benefiting from it but yet, individuals should be blamed for their bad behaviour. Even in countries where the government is fair to its people, we still see issues like this happening. This means people can not be absolutely satisfied and no matter the government efforts, some people will still choose the wrong way to earn extra money illegally. I'm not trying to justify government irresponsibilty but truth should be told at all times.

There is no excuse for committing a crime. Many people in Nigeria are also under this bad government, but they choose to do legal jobs even when the pay is little. Some of these fraudsters are driven by greed and not survival. This is why you see them spending money on luxuries when they steal. Lack of employment opportunities contributes greatly to the rate of crime, but it shouldn't be an excuse to engage in it. When a criminal is caught he alone will face the consequences. His defence team cannot use bad government as a good reason for his release.

Sadly, the law is blind to corrupt politicians, but it becomes effective if a common man commits a crime. It is even the corrupt government that will send him to jail, so let's be guided.

Well I'm from Nigeria and I was not happy when I saw the news online, this incident that happened has brought a bad name and reputation to us in the international community, it is true that we are not the only Nation involved in scam activities but I'm not happy that my nation is among the list.
I will blame our government for all this because they have failed to do there duty, there's no good job and still the cost of living is so high (cost of living won kill the living) people are suffering and going through hunger, and this is one of the reasons why some people scam and gamble in my country, however those who are involved in scam in my country are also to be blamed because a lot of people are hustling legitimately and making money so why choose to get involved in scam, majority of them get this money and lavish it in women and expensive life style.

This scam activities are happening every day and almost all the countries are now involved in scamming people, some people are deeply involved in hacking and stealing people's money, just like the way they hacked Bybit some months ago.

You could say that most government officials are criminals. They’re just a lot more sophisticated than your average pick pocket or mugger. Most people are good honest, hard working people. It’s just that bad people sometimes make us think a lot or people are like that but it’s not the case. I just try to get on with my life & ignore the dark, seedy underworld of crime.

"A Nigeria-based scammer posing as Steve Witkoff, a long-time ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and co-chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, stole approximately $250,000 in crypto from a would-be political donor"
Source: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/07/07/nigerian-scammer-posing-as-trump-ally-steve-witkoff-stole-250k-in-crypto-from-one-political-donor

I'd suggest using a web search before believing these political stories. So, a Trump supporter had $250,000 stolen and about $40,000 recovered. To then say Trump was scammed is surprisingly misleading, though oddly accurate from a certain interpretation.

even though poor governance has it own role to play in the way youths get themselves involve in ill activities, everyone has his or her own life to live and should the difference between wrong an right. commiting crime just because the government has failed you will not save you if you are eventually caught. same government you think led you to comit those crime will still put you under the bar once they get their hands on you. fact is that internet fraudsters are greedy and because of their greed, they just rely on the bad leadership as an excuse why they carry out their evil agenda.

When certain individuals decide to do bad, we should blame them for their criminal acts and leave blaming the government all the time. Criminals are just criminals, no amount of formal jobs given to them will satisfy their greed. The person that committed this act, have you interviewed him to know if he's a graduate or not. If he's not what kind of skills has he acquired that he doesn't have a job? Some of these guys don't want to work, all they just want to do is look for who to defraud. I am never blaming the government on this one. If the time this guy used in learning this criminal moves, was channeled into learning a trade something like this wouldn't have happened. There will always be criminal elements even in the midst of plenty of jobs opportunities.

They won't be punished because the people will just do whatever they have to do in order to survive. The leaders know their boundaries and that's why as long as they can fill their pockets full of money that should be for the people, they wouldn't mind of taking them for as long as they're in their regime. It's the sad thing that many countries are experiencing especially the third world countries. The leaders there are no-mercy when it comes to the fund that must be allotted to the people and for making such a progress.

You think any government is better, they do only that you don't know how they operate. Bad government is a major role player that increases crime rate, but anyone that sees it as an opportunity to commit crime should know that decision making are personal obligations. I will say the $40,000 already confiscated by authority is the end of the search, if the criminals are smart to scam a hierachy then should be smart on how to go away with the rest amount without being caught.

The blame is on the criminals not the government even though governments failed on their part to make the economy better even with enough resources,  being good comes from the heart, no matter how happy the economy, there will still be people who prefer scamming and illegal jobs than working somewhere legal.

In my opinion I think bad government and crime work together,  because in a state where the government is bad or corrupt, crime seems to thrive.

Bad governance breeds unemployment, poverty, hardship,ineffective law enforcement, political instability etc. This factors help crime to thrive in such state, so I don't think you can separate bad government from crime. The only way to curb crime,  (because it can not be fully eradicated in any society ) is for the government to do better, so they can improve the life of the citizens.

I would thank you if for the next threads you decided to open about news, like this one, you took the time to provide the source of the information and how it was possible from some people from Nigeria to literally scam Trump, who is supposed to have a security team to manage his digital assets.

Anyways, I have always thought that, if the government shows criminal tendencies and disregard for the constitution and laws, it is expected their own people to go against those same laws and become crooks, in the same manner their leaders have got corrupted for the sake of money and more power.
Actually, it is a very similar scenario of what we have seen going on here in Venezuela, our president and his inner circle is a collection of crooked politicians and military personnel. The population realizes this and they try to as well start their own criminal career, and unfortunately, thanks to the ecosystem of alternative currencies and Bitcoin it has become easier than ever to steal millions of dollars in the most unpersonal manner, from hundreds or thousands of kilometers away and having little to no option to recover those stolen funds.
It is the nature of corruption, it spreads faster as those who are supposed to set the example end up being the first and more important promoters of illegality.

You are right Hispo, providing a source would have given us a clearer picture of the situation. These scammers didn't scam Trump; rather, they impersonated the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee and tricked or coerced victims into providing them money. They send messages to people claiming to be Steve Witkoff, then the co-chair of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee. Nobody is immune to a scam, but just as you mentioned, it will be difficult to defraud the president of the most powerful country in the world.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/07/04/trump-cryptocurrency-ethereum-tokens.html

The fact is that the number of scammers in Nigeria is increasing on a daily basis due to a shortage of work. That is what drives the vast majority of young people to commit crimes. Consider that people are graduating from higher levels of education and there are no opportunities for them. What should they turn to?  And the government is aware but just ignores everything.

And that is why the country remains corrupt because the leaders who are expected to take action and solve problems pretend nothing has happened, and they want the fraudulent criminals to reduce how can that be possible?

No one knows what you are talking about here. I feel like i have to explain why...

So, free of charge, here's basics of writing a topic:

1: Assume that no one knows the backstory and start from beginning. You don't explain how did they scam, or if they scammed Trump directly or his office. I also fail to understand any moralism in this. Trump has been notorious scammer his whole life, so why would it be morally wrong to take some of it back? I know it's legally wrong, but legality can clash with morality.

2: Link to the sources. Anyone can say anything with pseudonymous accounts in the internet. So why would anyone just believe it's true?

3. This isn't a story you are telling for a group of friends outside. This is written text, so consider using paragraphs. Text walls (even small ones) are just an example how little you actually care if anyone reads it.

Crime is not only found with the people in a society, government officials also engage in crime when they risk the lives of people they should be held responsible for and spend the money for projects on their own personal needs, also, most of the money recovered form crime and illicit activities in most cases are not being accounted for, because they are not treated with justice, instead those in power also take advantage of the same thing for their own personal benefits, which is injustice, we have many of these leaders everywhere ruling under the influence of corruption.

Anyone who's caught in the act of criminality should be judged and punished under the law of the government. For the government, individuals who do the same thing to steal from the government will be judged and punished accordingly when they are caught. They are not above the law.

Bad government or no jobs available are not excuses to get involved in criminality because there are legitimate ways to earn a living. So many individuals are living with that despite the bad government they face regularly.

There's nowhere where bad government or criminality are not. Those individuals who choose to do bad things, to bring their country a bad name, will face the consequences of their actions because no country harbors or is proud of a criminal. The US government would try its best to recover the remaining amount($210k) since they have recovered $40k from seized crypto assets.

I totally agree with you that crime is  not only found with the people in society, the government officials are the courses of high increase of crime in the society today because a process where by government are full of corruptions and also with the failure of the government to engage the youths, you will found out that such a society will  experience allot of crimes, because of the inability of the government be able to provide to the society. Like they said a building will stand firm if the foundation of building is be  eracted or constructed okay, what I'm trying to said is that government should eventually invest in the society to reduce the high rate of crime in the society

"If you cannot do the time, don't do the crime". Crime is a crime regardless of how you see it, for the fact that you find yourself in a bad economic situation, that shouldn't drive you to commit crime. The young man that defrauded the U.S government has no excuse, he did it with clear intention. So the justification to which comes with the fact that oh because his from a country that has bad leadership then he should go and commit crime does not count for me, is he the only one that is being affected by bad government, why did he choose crime as a means of survival?.

The information is false, the TikTok video went viral and it was confirmed as fake, please Op, just like everyone else pointed out, be sure of your source before sharing news on this board. Trump doesn't have the time to operate devices for too long to fall for internet con players.

Bad government causes more deterioration than progress in the country. Bad government always tries to act according to its own interests. Due to bad government, the general public of the country also becomes worse. After being elected, all governments seek their own benefits.

The Nigerian government is even far worst than those guys, they lot our treasury very dry, they created room for all this bullshit, tell how some whose country settings are in other will want to commit such a crime,.although we shouldn't make excuses for they guy but the truth is that we never can tell what led him to this rubbish thing called fraudulent activity, this is too bad, when ever I think about Nigeria leader, I just see leader ls with the heart of devil, how would a leader conveniently travel to other people's country to get a medical service when he can actually get his country medical system fixed to meet to the standard they actually want with the resources available, this leaders subject their people to poverty and thereby indirectly making them to involve in things they would've not wanted to go into, most African leaders are the cause of what's happening in Africa, I just wish most the developed nations can place a visa ban on the leaders them so that even through they are sick they'll have stay in their country, I think this would make wake up to their responsibility.

OP should have provided us a link to where he got the news from so we can read and decide whether to actually believe the story or not, I heard a similar news but it was quite different from what is shared in the OP. What I heard from a news site was that a donor for the Trump, election campaign was scammed by some Nigerians, they sent a fake email that looks similar to the Trump, campaign fund and a donator fell victim, it wasn't as if Trump, was scammed directly. I don't know how authentic my own version is and I can't find the link anymore. We should carefully verify the information that we share on this forum before posting it so that we would not mislead people on this forum, there are lots of fake news on the internet.

Yes, first of all, before the elections, all governments treat everyone well and do good things. And they tell everyone that their country will improve a lot and the common people will be able to move around a lot better. But when the bad government wins the elections after the elections, their attitude changes completely. From then on, they only work according to their own interests and fill their own pockets. They do not think about the condition of the common people. They increase the prices of various goods day by day, due to which the movement of the common people becomes very difficult. Many times, it is seen that there is a commotion even within the country.

you are  very correct, Before elections, our government promise heaven on earth just to win votes. But once they are in power they forget those  
people who put them there in the first place. The saddest part is how the common people suffer rising prices, broken promises, and no one to be held accountable. It is a cycle that keeps repeating because people are tired, and their voices are often ignored. Until leaders start prioritizing the well-being of citizens over personal gain, things won’t truly change.

So what would be the alternative if we assume all governments seek for their own interests after being elected, though?
I am not very fond of anarchy, even when we talk about decentralization and having one's own authority over one's good, there are always clear rules on what can and cannot happen within a decentralized system.
That is why truly good governments who keep separation of power as a priority for their way of functioning succeed to bring peace and good standards of living to their citizens and residents. Autocracy and centralization always convenient when those in power seek to enrich themselves.

Don't be ashame of your experiences from government sector s because we are government and the government is us and are elected legitimately by the masses knowing fully well that they will deliver in their respective offices .no government that encourages corruption and illegal acts in his country rather they encourages security, growth and development etc but because of lack of industriousness, impatience, anxiousness and desperateness to make weath; people now engages in fraudulent activity, pointing an acussing finger to the government as if they the architect of our misfortune. There are citizens of this nations today that don't depend on government for survival and they make it by becoming self employed in legal activities, can we now conclude categorically that they are exceptional from those whose activities are corrupt and evil.my compatriots brothers pls let us reason positively and avert corruption for a blissful future and not blaming the government.

The people of Nigeria are honest, hardworking, and efficient. Fraud occurs in almost every country in the world. Different types of fraud or chaos occur in each country, but Nigeria repeatedly comes to the forefront of discussion and Nigeria repeatedly fails to achieve glory. A corrupt government can completely destroy the political instability of that country, the economy, and even the education system of a country.

When a good government tries to develop its country, no other country can develop as easily as that country. As a result, unemployment is eliminated. Due to which various types of criminal acts are also less in the society. If the world happiness index can be calculated, then Sweden, Norway, Denmark and many other countries in the world have countries that often have corruption-free administrations.

As a result, the governments of those countries are the best in the world in terms of social security system, corruption-free administration, employment, women and children's rights, and the meaning of life.

What the person did is actually wrong but don't you think the government should start looking out for this intellectual mind. In Nigeria we have best brains but due to our leaders is only interested in their own pocket. Nigeria is so blessed that we have all it takes to leave well and God will help us.

Crime is crime, however when our leaders fail to do what they need to crime increases. I could remember vividly during the time of late President Umar' Musa Yar'adua there was no much crime in Nigeria ranging from Kidnapping, banditry, all the rest while because he came with 7 points agenda and he was able to achieve at least 4 out of the 7, but in recent times the reverse is now the case because the government of the day are no longer living to expectations. In a country where the government does not have the people at heart, crime increases.

when we  failed  the system pushes us into brilliant mindset to dark corner while fraud can never be justified,  we also can't ignore  the deeper root  causes, unemployment neglect people and hopelessness both the Government and these scammers are part of the same broken angle, Government created hardship and other react it wrongly until there is changes we will keep on seeing headlines like this every day

If we keep blaming the government when a certain individuals commit crime then we are only encouraging more people to go on a commit crime since hardship is the only justification for doing illegal things, let's be realistic for once I don't know how authentic is the information of the OP but if the information is confirmed to be true then the government should not be blamed rather the victim should face the law for his actions.

Everyone understands the level of corruption going on in the government but the ordinary people should focus on their self development and stop depending on the government to make things easier for them, get yourself a life and get a skill if your certificate can't get you a source of livelihood, shun crime and stop doing illegal things that will deny you your freedom the government will only deceive you but you can't deceive yourself guys should wake up and hustle instead of stealing.

Come are you telling a story or are you saying fact? blah.. blah..

No link, no image, nothing to prove this really happened. I wont deny that I did not hear the news but the evidence provided is not legit for me to make my conclusion. First I heard, they found the young man, and now you say the government are still looking for them. Which should we believe?

Bad rulership can begot any kind of crime especially in the settings where there's deficit of job but in everything no one has the right to make excuse with bad government or hide under such to commit crime, evil is evil everywhere, there are laws, so if anyone commits crime and been found guilty after thorough investigation is been made, the person will be made to face the consequences, there's no two ways about it, it is too bad that people are just suffering and the government of some nation aren't seeing this suffering as anything instead, they are after looting more public funds to further increase the poverty in the land, it is the duty of the government to create enabling environment for investors to come in and also create jobs but it is as if they have failed in all this.

never heard of this news before please provide a link so we can all discuss the details together

how is the president of the united states scammed of a couple of boys from an african country? and you are saying trump was the one who scammed well that amount of money is actually just small considering that he is the president of the united states

i don’t understand how can one scam a president lol

Bad or corrupt government is a key factor for instigating crime.Some government implementation of bad policies may lead to loss of job or stoodup. If the government create jobs for her citizens at least crime will be reduced. Bad or corrupt government can instigate crime by not providing for her citizens. Government is the chief instigator of crimes for not creating the enabling environment for people to succeed .

It can be a slog to read more than a page of posts before responding to a thread, so I recommend reading at least the first nineteen posts of a thread before replying. Perhaps for example the eighth post of the first page of posts on this thread already has a direct link to the details of this story.

I came across a thread here in the forum that a police officer kidnapped a Bitcoin Holder in an attempt to take his investment away, so the government are not left out in these ridiculous act given that some government officials are criminals too. Fraudulent activity doesn't just happen in Nigeria alone, fraudulent activities are happening in different countries now and even the government I could say that the government are the architect to these acts because they choose to make living in some of the countries hard for citizens and thereby forcing citizens to get involved in fraudulent activities to survive the falling economy in the country, regardless of the things happening in our different countries, crime is never the way out because any money made out of crime will never give you peace of mind. The FBI will always be on the tail of every one involved in the crime.

Me i don’t support fraud or scams activities because at the end of the day crime destroys more lives than it saves... but at the same time!! we can not ignore the role of bad governance in pushing the young people into desperate situations like that... when graduates spend years upon years searching for jobs with no hope of getting one then frustration can make them look for some kind of shortcuts even if those shortcuts are wrong path. The government is quick to chase down this boys when they commit fraud!!! but where was the same energy when they were struggling to survive if the leaders creat jobs, built industries and gave people eual opportunities i believe many of this crimes would not even happen at all... because poverty and lack of hope can force one into a life of crime!! it is that simple... The boys are guilty, but the government is not also innocent as well..

Well I also heard this news, but just like someone have said here that he has not read the full information likewise me,
But never the less, what i have to say about this, is that this whole thing is the fault of our leaders who have failed to do the needful,in this nation we are blessed with alot of minerals resources, were are not supposed to be known with this kind of evil name,but due the improper management of our mineral resources and selfish interest have stain the beauty of this great nation.

We were once known and called the giant of Africa,but look at where we are today because bad leadership, are we moving forward or back,so many other countries we are better than are not known with this kind of name we are called today..

But in the other way round, sometimes you shouldn't blame the government because there's a lot of our young youth today who have refused to work even if there's job they will not work they choose to steal from where they didn't laboured for, which is not good, because they said that an idols Man is a devil 's work shop... do yourself a faviour by engage yourself in one work or the other,self employment, stealing is not a work rather rather you route in jail...

In my conclusion our government have alot to do,in order to put to stop to this bad name, our leaders knows the cause of our problems...

Some countries are going through hell all because there Leader they voluntarily elected in to represent them  have now been converted
to  the enemy of those that elected them without putting them as there  primary duties at any point in time all because of there selfishness in running public affairs. Most countries with low crime case was achieved my the way there government managed the affairs of the country, so to avoid much crime in the country the government should have the interest of the citizens at mind.

Yes you are correct there are no excuse to crime but the truth is that bad government we always increase crime rate whether we like it or not. There are some people who are still doing well even with bad government and their are some people who will like to put the blame to government and give their excuse and they see crime as an option of making money. 

What you should is that human are not the same in thinking, discipline and upbringing. Their are people who will never involve in crime no matter how bad things, this is because they have a better understanding of life.

Their will always be an opportunity to make money and crime is never an option, but the government needs to do something to reduce crime rate and this can be possible with provision of education and employment.

Many countries are victim of this especially the west African states countries, our leaders are not trusted, even people that we think that are better aren't, once you vote some of them into power, poverty of will get them compromised along the line, the situation haa deteriorated to the extent that people don't longer see voting as anything because it has become an ordinary thing, this has also led to elections being written by the so called policians thereby alowing the effort of the masses to go in vain, this has become a thing of great concern but while will want to speak, the government of many nation don't know what it meant by looking into the public problems rather they prefer looting pubic funds as the best option for themselves too bad.

The so called politicians have destroyed the voting system making it not to count any more just to have total control of the countries fund  with being questioned at any time. If voting in some African countries do count, how on earth will a president without vision rule a country for up to 8 years giving room for 100 percent inflation of price in all the products in the country including petrol when the country is among the countries with highest crude oil production yet they can't get petrol at a low price and he cannot be voted out of office if voting counts.

Any countries that is experiencing bad government you wil see that in such countries there will be kinds of crime in the society because the government failed to provide jobs opportunities for the youths than being busy looking forward for their selfish interest on how to have everything by their self, and the government is bad in such away if by preventure they created jobs opportunities and asked everyone that is eligible for the such jobs opportunities should apply online and many youths will apply for the job hopefully that they will get the job, without them knowing that people occupying the seat in the government has already shared the jobs opportunities within there selfs and only keeping 5 opportunities for those youths that apply for the jobs should contest only for the 5 opportunities they left for thousand of peoples that apply for jobs to go for, so many that has the opportunity to survive through are those that has people occupying seat in the government house and which is not good at all with the way government are treating the society.

Its less about bad government and more about the personal attitudes of the people respect for property rights of individuals. Economies like Singapore flourish specifically because they respect individual property rights. If Nigerians all suddenly respected property rights tomorrow, they would be the wealthiest country in Africa in 25 years. They might still be a place you couldn't live well, like Singapore, if they also didn't respect the freedom of speech, but they'd be well off financially. Government's policies of economy are generally a reflection of the attitudes of the general population because the people in government are from the general population. So if you have a dictator in a country with a place where 50% of people respect property rights, there is a 50% chance the dictator will respect property rights.

Or put more broadly, any country that scores 90 on the Index of Economic Freedom as published by the Heritage Foundation is guaranteed to flourish at an extreme rate... they always have and always will. There are about five people who hate it so to speak because they are proven wrong by people they hate, but it proven correct.

most acts of the government are also criminal but due to the power the have by the virtue of the office the occupy sometimes such excesses are overlooked but it still doesn't change the fact that those actions affect the well being of the citizenry.

Certain decisions that leaders take are never in the best interest of the people but because they are not answerable to anyone it is often swept under the carpet, some leaders are worse than criminals, because sometimes use their positions for embezzlement, allocate contract to their cronies, and also covet state assets, all these are criminal actions but the sometimes get away with it especially in third world countries.

Bad government itself is a portrait of corruption so it may not require any instigation further to be what it is already, crime can only occur when we have bad leadership that are corrupt and won't act accordingly to every corrupt practices in the society.

When you also see crime rate increasing, it shows that the poverty rate is getting more higher and the economy is getting more worse, while the people are finding it more difficult to survive through in a country and the next available option is to begin to act in such illegal ways and the crime becomes the next thing they took up.