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Nigeria: Why do you use Liberty Reserve?

Oluniyi D. Ajao

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· Updated 9 February 2026
Liberty Reserve

Liberty ReserveEcommerce Journal is a well-respected online news website about e-commerce and is one of the few websites I visit regularly. They have been predicting doom for Liberty Reserve in recent times and have done the same with one of their recent articles. The thrust of my blog post however is to react to a paragraph in one of their recent articles titled: “If people bring an action against Liberty Reserve what will be in future?”

The author, posting under the alias ayny attempted to analyse the traffic to libertyreserve.com from Nigeria and wrote the following:

As for the users coming from Nigeria, here we may say that they do not credit the traffic of LR. Nigerian fraudsters are famous around the world for their scaled operations throughout the Internet including the ones involving Liberty Reserve as a payment system. Thus if Liberty Reserve does not disappear in the nearest time, the percentage of the Nigerian traffic will continue to grow.

Ayny failed to suggest specific ways in which Nigerians cheat using Liberty Reserve and I therefore conclude that the author’s assertion is baseless and malicious. I will therefore proceed to paint what I believe to be the true picture of this situation.

A lot of Nigerians are involved in online forex trading and only few of them have access to the popular online means of payments like credit cards, moneybookers, paypal etc. Several online forex brokers accept Liberty Reserve. Liberty Reserve on the other hand, does not require any documentation before one can open an account and use to send & receive money online. Of course this lack of proper KYC (Know-Your-Customer) offers Liberty Reserve as an invaluable tool for scammers as they can simply hide behind fake profiles to perpetrate their evil.

Aside the keen interest in forex, many Nigerians also use Liberty Reserve to pay for services like web hosting, sms vouchers, virtual credit cards etc. See an analysis I did in September 2007 about why e-gold was popular in Nigeria. The main motivation to use Liberty Reserve for the average people is the lack of credit card facilities. That is changing gradually however as more banks are now issung Mastercards & Visas that can be used online. To link every activity involving Nigerians to scam is very myopic.

Are you a Nigerian using Liberty Reserve? Why do you use it? Share your thoughts here and now.

Oluniyi D. Ajao Avatar
Oluniyi D. Ajao
Oluniyi D. Ajao is an Internet Entrepreneur and Tech Enthusiast. Follow him on X (fka Twitter) @niyyie for more tech updates.

Comments

  1. John Avatar
    John

    All ecj articles are lies.
    Ecommerce journal is oned and hosted by dragonara company that owns perfectmoney. Perfectmoney is a Russian competitor with dark background from running ponzi schemes to stealing identities of its few verified clients. Russians banned this scamming ecurrency almost a year ago. So they are trying anywhere possible to get new victims.

    All the articles in ecommerce journal are anti -libertyreserve and other payment solutions. All these articles are lies just like the lies they wrote about Nigerian people.

    Reply
  2. terimoh Avatar
    terimoh

    John, tell me more… I no wan loose my money for liberty reserve oh!!! You sure for wetin you dey yarn?

    Reply
  3. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
    Oluniyi David Ajao

    Who do I believe? 🙄

    Reply
  4. OBK Avatar
    OBK

    please i have been very crazy for not having money to get my self involve in LR and make huge amount of profit. however please how then do i go into LR without been defrauded.

    Reply
  5. Oyeleke Toye Avatar
    Oyeleke Toye

    David,

    I think it is stupid for anyone to suggest that LR is popular in Nigeria because it is used for crime. I wouldn’t be surprised if that website is really owned by a competitor to LR.

    They probably don’t know that most successful MLM programs and Forex Trading brokers that accept Nigerians actually have Nigerians as their major clients. Does that make all of them scams??

    I should mention that my company was the first LR verified and recognised Exchanger in Nigeria. In fact I dare say that we introduced LR to Nigerians.

    By virtue of that, I am a bit close to Liberty Reserve SA and I can tell you for free that they are very very cooperative in investigating crimes committed with their system. Even in their hey days, E-gold won’t come close. I know because my company was one of the biggest E-gold Exchangers in Nigeria.

    Now to answer your question, I know Nigerians use LR to trade forex, MLM, Hosting, virtual c/c, HYIP, and of course a little percentage try to use LR to launder criminally acquired funds.

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      Thank you Oyeleke. I need people like you in the business to rebuff the silly suggestion made in that article about Nigerians and Liberty Reserve.

      Reply
  6. emeka Avatar
    emeka

    I don’t believe liberty reserve is going to go down, i use liberty reserve to to fund my account at marketiva, for marketiva to accept it, i think its reliable.
    Also i discovered a website epaynigeria.net it looks like a website where interswitch is used to buy ecurrencies. i sent a mail but i havn’t gotten any reply. Do you know if they are real?

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      I know nothing epaynigeria.net and offer no warranty about their services.

      Reply
  7. Kunle Avatar
    Kunle

    Are Nigerians also the source of hackings and Ddos attacks?When scams come from Ukraine and Eastern Europe many so-called web-analysts overlook them.

    Reply
  8. Tunde Avatar
    Tunde

    We do legit business in Nigeria, they can’t pin scam on us as there is no country in the world with out scammers. About epaynigeria.net, i believe its a product of epaynigeria.com and it is not functional yet.
    Buying liberty reserve with interswitch atm card is a good innovation, i think we need more websites like this.

    Reply
  9. seth penda Avatar
    seth penda

    i must say am glad i click on your website today i am not ashame to say am a newbie but i have come to realize that there a lot of money to be made online than offline somebody is introducing me to an investment that involve dealing with liberty reserve so you can understand my curiousity

    Reply
  10. Victor Avatar
    Victor

    I use LR long time only problem I had one month ago thay locked my account by IP I reset it few days later and still all LR account work ok, dont belive bad agitation for LR, LR is still best…

    Reply
  11. tobi Avatar
    tobi

    epaynigeria.net has started operation. all you need to do is register and follow some steps to become a fully verified user.
    we really need more services like this.nice one Mr Ope Fashakin.

    Reply
  12. Dayo Edunjobi Avatar
    Dayo Edunjobi

    Hmm, I got so much to say but well here is my reaction to this: http://dayoedunjobi.com/general/nigerian-scams-so-what-some-others-are-worst/

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      It is true that there are more scams in other countries but what scares Westerners about Nigeria is that the ratio of scams compared to honest business deals is way to high.

      Reply
  13. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    I’m loving this thread. That article is absurd and damaging and probably the reason why Nigerians have so few legit online payment options. Most of them don’t want to do business with Nigerians, some others only offer limited service. LR is fast growing why won’t they have many customers from a growing economy? Agreed, fraudulent practices by Nigerians is an ugly thing but for an article like this to imply that the existence of LR is based on the criminal practices of Nigerians is a crime in itself.

    Reply
  14. Afrison Avatar
    Afrison

    As you said David, it’s the ratios. As a fellow African I can say Nigeria is a lovely country with lovely people.

    It has many scammers. It has a few scammers. ??

    At something like roughly 140 million people, only one percent needs to be Yahoo! bois and we have 1.4 million scammers. Remember many of the other people are not connected. Unfortunately that small percentage is extremely active on the net, discrediting honest hardworking people and their country in the process. The EFCC does not help the process along either. Just like the population, their are hardworking officials, then there are the “spot fine” officials. Many of these scammers can and have been traced many times. The EFCC does nothing, or do the scammers pay “spot fines”? This simply defies logic. Nobody knows what is real and what not, if it is attached to the internet and Nigeria.

    It will take the inactive honest Nigerians, proud of their country, to rebuild the image of Nigeria. Only once the ratios change, when honest Nigerians expose their minority dishonest brothers, will the rest of the world start accept business from Nigeria. In the meantime they not only stigmatise Nigeria, but the whole continent of Africa.

    It is still a long road.

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      I couldn’t agree with you more Afrison. It’s a sad situation.

      Reply
  15. williams Avatar
    williams

    well i just loose some dollars to a scammer that pretent to be a good man to me i wanted to buy some stuff from him and all i got back was blame and he went away with my money that is very bad his liberty account number is this U8234638 plz you guys should be careful

    Reply
  16. yomi Salvador Avatar
    yomi Salvador

    Do they think there are no enterprenuers in Nigeria?we have a lot of young chaps that are doing legit and the rate of scammers are really going down cos talents and hardworking peeps are making us proud.come to think of it U.S.A is d origin of scam n they bull shit us all the time
    If they say Nigerians are scammers then how many of us are they talking about?cos we are about 140 million and how many are really connected?1 million i guess?so whats the ratio?what about the 139 million nigerians?
    Well i have to appeal to my nija peeps to rise up and do our nation proud by choosing a better life as most of us are doing now
    Long live Nigeria Long the people

    Reply
  17. Afrison Avatar
    Afrison

    Yomi, you are nearly saying exactly what David said, what I am saying and I guess what we have all seen. However, you try and move the blame and point it where it is not due…. and I am most definitely not American! We should be looking at solutions, not finger pointing. But I hear and feel your frustration daily.

    The small percentage of Yahoo-Yahoo bois is killing the hard work of a nation, is closing the gates to the rest of the world for the entrepreneurs in a medium that would probably be the only way that most honest Nigerian people would be able to trade with the rest of the world.

    Yet can you blame people for being suspicious and rather ignore or refuse requests to do business with Nigeria? What would you do if you were Indian, German, American or whatever? This is where the sadness lies. A small group of people are hijacking the future of a whole nation!

    If red ants attack a baby, do you blame the mother for not doing anything while not doing anything, or do you remove the ants and them have words with the negligent mother? The ants are the scammers, the mother the officials that are supposed to stop this.

    Every day the sun sets on new lost opportunities. In the evening honest skilled people will go to bed hungry while potential trade partners chose alternate people to deal with.

    As for the USA, yes they have their criminals, but also many claiming to be American abusing their identities while sitting in other countries. Such is the nature of the net. American laws such as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act actually encourage fraudulent usage of their services. If we can put blame on the US, it is corporate greed and lawyers that would be to blame, but that would be another article David may wish to investigate.

    However the 419 scam started off not with the Spanish letter as most would have it, but earlier in France. Read this, maybe the answer to what we are discussing lies here:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Fran%C3%A7ois_Vidocq

    As more an more bandwidth is bound for Nigeria, the hopes and aspirations of the newly connected will be frustrated with the tarnish of a few. There is no sense in denying this, it is a reality. However, there has to be a willingness by the victimized masses to finally accept what internet fraud costs and means to each one personally, for them to stand up as one and do what is necessary to remove this badge of shame.

    The only real discussion point is what we as the masses, meaning you and me personally, will do to finally overcome this cancer that is depriving a great nation and a whole continent of it rightful destiny. David, this may be another topic for you…

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      I have been gathering thoughts to post about what Nigerians can do to shed the bad publicity. Watch out.

      Reply
  18. Elemosho Avatar
    Elemosho

    thanks Oluniyi for such an article. let’s look at it from the two sides of a coin. First, i must agree that our boys has really spoilt the image of Nigeria when it comes to online deals such that whenever the name-Nigeria is ranged,it is believed to be 99.999999% scam.But we all know that this issue is fast declining in recent times.I know of 3 guys who were once involved in such dirty deals but have left those pranks for good. Generally, everybody will know one or two that has left too and that shows a downward trend.However, because Nigeria has already been blacklisted in this form, it will be so difficult to convince of the decline just like that…it takes time.

    In the case of Liberty Reserve, that sounds crazy cos’ LR has not gained popularity here in Nigeria the was it has in other countries and there are lots of online articles i have read about scams with LR and most are not linked to Nigeria. Their only fear is that once LR becomes popular in Nigeria then LR company will face a doom but that’s untrue cos’ of the continual decline of 419 scams in Nigeria. I myself, i’m yet to start using LR but i’m planning to trade with LR. I have my job, well paying job. I’m an actuary so i ain’t thinking of pranks on the internet and so is many NIgerians. Let them continue to picture us like that until it is so obvious that the ‘monkey’ is actually the ‘dog’ and the ‘dog’ appears to be the ‘monkey’.

    Reply
  19. Adamu Alex Avatar
    Adamu Alex

    Hi David, your wisdom is commended.
    Scammers are on the run in Nigeria right now.
    Legitimate internet marketers are taking over the
    market exponentially. From the look of things you
    should be a Nigerian residing in Ghana. I am a pastor
    and also an infopreneur. We are now educating right minded
    Nigerians to take over the market.
    I just opened my Liberty Reserve Today. In the process of looking
    for the most secure way of Funding and Withdrawing from Liberty Reverse
    that I found your Blog. I think I need to make my Blog interactive like your Blog homewad.com

    Reply
  20. okpi ibe chinedu Avatar
    okpi ibe chinedu

    i have poened a liberty reserve account but the problem is that they have refused to send me the verification pin. please i will appreciate it if you can have me with an information on how i can be able to get the verification pin . Thank

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      Okpi, I suggest you contact Liberty Reserve’s customer service department directly.
      Cheers.

      Reply
  21. Stan T Avatar
    Stan T

    Hello

    Great article. Has anyone looked into VTN (Virtual Terminal Network) A ecommerce solution for Nigeria, built by a Nigerian. I have a fantastic team growing in Nigeria and VTN is working fine. Its simple to use and it is like the Nigerian version of PayPal.

    Reply
  22. Digare Ahmed Avatar
    Digare Ahmed

    Hello,

    Actually there many fraudsters in Nigeria mostly from the southern region I knew not why those Nigerians seems to be soooo so much in greedy clubs. Even the Ethiopians who are very poor witnessed it.

    Thanks

    Reply
  23. Digare Ahmed Avatar
    Digare Ahmed

    Also they do have another problem in the North civil unrest in the name of Religion, that what make use also a failed state plus the so call leaders, so all these contributes, to why Nigerians facing some sort of problems, also paypal service aren’t allow from Nigeria but Niger is on the list. I knew that because I am right now in nigeria

    Reply
  24. Boliviia Maradona Avatar
    Boliviia Maradona

    i want to make payment to liberty reserve through epaynigeria.com. is this advisable?

    Reply
  25. Emmy Avatar
    Emmy

    Please how do i open an account with Liberty Reserve and get paid afterward.?
    What are the requirement to open the Account ? Please kindly reply me ASAP.

    Reply
  26. amon Avatar
    amon

    for sure LR is safe and easy to use. but to get a true investment is vital . wwww.libertyreserveincome.com

    Reply
  27. victor Avatar
    victor

    good day,please i am interested in online investment but i dont have a site,pls send me some good ones

    Reply
  28. karan Avatar
    karan

    hay i need lr did any one know that how to get it just infrom me

    Reply
  29. kenny from Enugu Avatar
    kenny from Enugu

    i want to know how to use LR pls can u help and put me online,i will be grateful for that.

    Reply
  30. Nigerian Scams; So What? Some Others Are Worst! | EdundayoDotCom

    […] out what my friend are up to and I came across this link from David Ajao, which took me to this: Nigeria: Why do you use Liberty Reserve? and I was stoked by that particular […]

    Reply
  31. abel Avatar
    abel

    IWANT TO DO BUSINESS ON LINE ,I NEED SITES THAT I CAN START WITH

    Reply
  32. LEENA Avatar
    LEENA

    If you are looking to invest money in investment sites, you need a currency which is liberty reserve. So, we are providing liberty reserve for sale, you can buy and sell liberty reserve, …our rates buy 51 & sell 44 🙂 (Depends on the Quantity) LEENA MUDALIOR. : )

    Reply
  33. Keita Ibrahim J Avatar
    Keita Ibrahim J

    who are there, to answer us when we cry, I will like to know the real exchangers of the Liberty reserve that are here in Nigeria pls.

    Reply
  34. CALEB Avatar
    CALEB

    ABEG LR SEND ME A MESSAGE THAT I HAVE WON $500 INTO MY ACCOUNT. IS IT REAL

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      I assume its an email. Don’t click on any link in the email. Go to Liberty Reserve’s website and check your account balance.

      Reply
  35. mista 4x Avatar
    mista 4x

    All these people that are envious of Nigerias progress, this article to me is just like the case between the U S and Japan, U S customers bought Toyota more Than American Cars, SO the U S started looking for campaigns against Toyota, Nigerians hold top positions in the world envied by The Europeans and The U S, so the are agrrieved, i use Liberty reserve to Trade Forex i have handle thousands of dollars through them and they have not failed, i put in place all the necessary securiyy to avoid hacking. so i dont listen to all those craps.
    If you an online business man just do your things, make your cash dont mind these job less white guys claiming we are scammers, wonder who scammed them that doesnt have names

    Reply
  36. Abayormi Avatar
    Abayormi

    I made a transaction on epaynigeria.net in order tro credit my Liberty reserve account. For more than two weeks, my account has not been credited. I called customer line all they could say was that they will get back to me… Later they find it difficult to pick my calls…. Is this site(www.epaynigeria.net) a scam or not? Cos if it is not scam my money should be in my own account by now. Am scared of them

    Reply

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