Submit Your Questions: Inside The World of Online Romance Scams

Jul 9, 2026 | Blog | 0 comments

By jasondouglasallen

For our very first WIRED Book Club livestream, Kate Knibbs will be joined by the author of The Yahoo Boys: Love, Deception, and the Real Lives of Nigeria’s Romance Scammers, Carlos Barragán.

Barragán, a journalist and researcher at The New York Times, flew to Lagos to embed himself with a group of young, desperate grifters. The account he brings back is a funny, sad, enraging read about how the internet can fuel heartbreak.

On the Panel

  • Kate Knibbs: senior writer at WIRED, covering prediction markets, the future of media, and how AI is changing the internet. She also leads WIRED Book Club.
  • Carlos Barragán: reporter and researcher for The New York Times based in Madrid. He was formerly a reporter at El Confidencial before receiving his MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. The Yahoo Boys is his first book.

Ask a Question

Submit your burning questions about the book in the comments section below. The event will be streamed right here, so bookmark this page and mark your calendar to return on July 16 at 12pm ET / 9am PT.

How to Watch

This livestream is reserved as a subscriber benefit. For subscribers who are not able to join, a replay of the livestream will be available after the event. Not a subscriber yet? Subscribe now to get access to this livestream, plus full access to WIRED.

Join WIRED Book Club

If you’d like to start following along, you can catch up on past weeks discussions, and sign up for WIRED Book Club here.

In the meantime, check out past livestreams on how AI is changing work, big tech and the military, and more.

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