OWERRI, IMO STATE – Residents of the Egbeada Junction area of Owerri, the capital of Imo State, were thrown into confusion after two young women, estimated to be between 23 and 25 years old, began exhibiting what witnesses described as violent irrational behavior moments after alighting from a luxury vehicle… WATCH THE VIDEO
According to multiple eyewitness accounts, the unidentified women were dropped off by a man driving a high-end saloon car, whom bystanders later identified as a suspected Yahoo Boy (a local term for an internet fraudster). Within minutes of the vehicle speeding away, the women reportedly began shouting incoherently, tearing off their clothes, and attempting to attack passersby with a kitchen knife.
One of them stripped completely naked and started barking like a dog. The other was wielding a knife, threatening to kill anyone who came close, said Chinedu Okonkwo, a roadside trader who witnessed the incident. They were speaking in a language nobody understood. We thought they had been poisoned or drugged.
Local vigilante members were called to the scene to restrain the women, who reportedly displayed abnormal physical strength, requiring four men to subdue them. Neither woman was carrying any form of identification, and initial efforts to trace the luxury vehicle were unsuccessful.
The incident has since fueled ongoing public discourse regarding Yahoo Plus, a more dangerous offshoot of traditional internet fraud. Unlike standard Yahoo boys who rely on phishing and romance scams, practitioners of Yahoo Plus are believed to incorporate ritualistic elements including the alleged use of human parts or blood to compel victims to comply with financial demands.
Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Michael Abattam (at the time), acknowledged the incident but noted that no formal complaint had been filed by the victims or their families. We are aware of the video circulating on social media. However, without a complainant or medical report, it is difficult to ascertain whether this is a case of substance-induced psychosis, spiritual attack, or a criminal matter, Abattam stated in a press briefing days later.
Local health workers who arrived at the scene administered first aid before transporting the women to a nearby public hospital. A medical source, speaking on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization, told reporters that the patients presented with elevated heart rates, dilated pupils, and acute disorientation consistent with possible exposure to a dissociative or hallucinogenic substance.
However, traditional leaders in the community have advanced a different theory. Chief Godwin Nwosu, a community elder, argued that the symptoms pointed to a spiritual attack. This is what happens when ‘Yahoo Plus’ rituals backfire on innocent people. These boys use innocent girls for money rituals, and when something goes wrong, the girls lose their minds, Nwosu said.
The Imo State Government has since urged parents and guardians to monitor the activities of their children closely, particularly regarding relationships formed online or through unsanctioned hooking up culture.
Any young woman who accepts gifts or cash from unknown men flaunting wealth without visible means of livelihood puts herself at risk, warned a statement from the state’s Ministry of Women Affairs. These incidents are real, and the consequences range from physical assault to documented psychological collapse.
