The internet can be a dangerous place especially for the women who use it. I asked eight Nigerian women about the worst thing that has happened to them on the internet. Here’s what they had to say:
Tinu
One day, I was scrolling through my explore page on Instagram when I saw a missed video call from a username that I don’t interact with. I went to check my dm and I saw that the guy was saying he wants to do sexual stuff with me. He called again while I was trying to figure out what was going on and I picked. The next thing I saw was his dick. I ended the call immediately. He was still in my dm asking me to show him my ass. I blocked him with the speed of light.
Ayomide
When I was 21, someone sent me a picture of his dick with a message saying he would use it on me. He got my number from a group chat. We had never interacted before that day. I told him I didn’t like it and if he didn’t stop I would report him to the admin. He started insulting me. He said he will deal with me and make sure he destroys my reputation in school. I blocked him but before I did I noticed he used my profile picture at that time as his. I was so scared. I kept waiting to hear someone say they saw someone using my picture to do something bad but I never heard anything. Since then I don’t use my pictures as my profile picture.
Tiffany
Sometime between 2014 and 2015, I was in secondary school and very active on Facebook. One day, my Facebook account started sharing porn links with my friends. I don’t know what happened to it but the links were on my wall for everyone to see.
When school resumed, my schoolmates insulted and laughed at me for watching porn. Luckily, my family members believed I was hacked. After that incident though, I dumped Facebook.
Esi
One day in 2019, one man called me. The first thing he said was, “Is this Dream?” I said, “Who is Dream?” He ended the call and texted me saying he had been talking to me on a dating website. When I said I wasn’t on any dating website, he sent me a screenshot of the profile. Some of the pictures there were pictures I had only sent to my boyfriend. I confronted my boyfriend
Bemigho
I met this hot woman on Twitter sometime in 2017. She was quite interactive on the timeline but not with everyone. I became interested when she started tweeting gay stuff. We started flirting on the timeline and then one day, I slid into her dm. We started texting a lot and somehow that began sexting. She would tell me she was wet and it was so hot I would get off on it. This happened a couple of days before she became inactive. One day, someone else on the timeline exposed the account to be a catfish — it was a man running the account. I was scarred.
Tosin
I run a small logistics business and I make deliveries myself because I don’t have money to pay anybody yet. One day, I made a delivery to someone in Ikeja*. From outside the compound, the house looked like a small flat so I felt comfortable walking into the compound. When I entered, I saw that it was a big house so I stayed by the gate waiting for the customer. He was a man in his 30s. I handed him the package but he said I should enter inside to eat. I refused and told him I had other places to be. He said he wouldn’t give me my money if I don’t enter. I was scared so I decided to leave. This man told his security guard to not open the gate. I maintained my stance that I needed to leave. I told him my Boss knew where I was and if anything happened to me, they would come for him. That was when he told the security man to open the gate for me. I ran for my life. Since then, I meet customers at a popular landmark.
Jumoke
When I joined Tinder, a total stranger swiped right on me just to tell me the most ridiculous things about my body. He said nobody deserved to look like me and my parents must have offended God. All because I am fat and dared to join Tinder.
Folake
There was a time Nigerian Twitter was divided into two groups — LWKMD and TBH Twitter. TBH twitter used to pick on LWKMD Twitter. One time I posted a picture of myself and I was called dirty for two days by different people. Another time, I posted a photo of myself in front of my compound and one man mocked my house. His friends followed suit. I was a laughing stock for days. Those same people are still on Twitter doing love and light and I’m supposed to believe that those people have changed? LOL
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