Carlos Barragán's "The Yahoo Boys"
Carlos Barragán's "The Yahoo Boys"  
Podcast: LARB Radio Hour
Published On: Fri Jun 19 2026
Description: Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher are joined by journalist Carlos Barragán, whose new book is called The Yahoo Boys: Love, Deception, and the Real Lives of Nigeria's Romance Scammers. After his own mother is targeted by a scammer pretending to be an American soldier, reporter and researcher Barragán made his way down to Lagos, Nigeria to investigate the so-called "Yahoo Boys," young men who catfish millions out of lonely victims. Barragán immerses himself in the group, exploring how scamming has been shaped by the global economy, how it has become a local industry and how these young men are finding agency, experiencing loss, and navigating their lives online and off.