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A young entrepreneur openly peddles ancient spiritual charms on TikTok, promising success to internet fraudsters. DUBAWA investigates the truth behind this illicit trade, its impact on Nigeria’s global reputation, and the urgent need for law enforcement to break the spell.
A dark-skinned boy, probably in his early twenties, began an unusual advert in Yoruba on TikTok. Raising a covered calabash with his right hand, he began, “When it’s not as if you have a family that will challenge you, you better do Oshole. Don’t come to my [inbox] to ask for ‘update’ because I’m freely giving you one now.”
Oshole is a spiritual charm that internet fraudsters in Nigeria rely on to boost their nefarious trade. ‘Asking for updates,’ as the advert says, is a slang term, meaning the process of seeking spiritual fortifications to aid their illicit activities.
“This is the update, and OlaXash just delivered it,” he said enthusiastically. The rest of the one-minute 15-second video hyped the efficacy of OlaXash’s services for internet fraudsters, also called “Yahoo boys” or “G-guys.”
This is not the only video online hyping OlaXash, a vendor of spiritual products. Another video on her Instagram page showed a similarly aged boy advertising OlaXash’s products, including charms for internet fraudsters.
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DUBAWA found numerous videos on one of her TikTok pages, which boasts 8,308 followers and over 102,400 reactions as of Jul. 7, 2025. OlaXash’s Instagram page is filled with screenshots of reviews from her clients.
OlaXash also severely warned online vendors from messaging her, stating that her Oshole charms are strictly for “people pressing phones.” The statement is an evasive reference to internet fraudsters, whom she also described as “Hustle guys.”
In another review she uploaded on Instagram, OlaXash labelled her product “Yahoo soap.” The buyer revealed that they had just defrauded a victim of bitcoin worth over N264,000 ($175).
Oshole is deeply rooted in Yoruba spiritual traditions. It is designed to attract wealth and improve the user’s business success. The progenitors were the Osho sect, a sorcerer cult that traditionally combines specific herbs, roots, and sometimes animal parts to make charms. When combined and properly invoked, Oshole is believed to influence the spiritual forces that govern prosperity and luck in the user’s favour.
Oshole is not considered malevolent or harmful, as it is believed to harmonise the user’s spiritual energy with cosmic balance. However, many spiritualists now indiscriminately sell the charms and other spiritual products to perpetrators of evil, like internet fraudsters, to boost their “businesses.” Meanwhile, Ifayemi Elebuibon, the Araba of Osogbo land, revealed in an interview that users must be above 40 years old at first, and 70 years old at the second usage.
Christiana Longe, a legal practitioner, said offering spiritual services becomes an offence when it aids criminal activities.
“In this context, the provider is offering spiritual solutions to individuals, particularly those involved in online crimes like Yahoo fraud. By doing so, she is providing spiritual services and enabling others who receive these services,” she said.
This sinister support from self-acclaimed spiritualists like OlaXash fuels Nigeria’s relentless battle against internet fraud. In 2024, the World Cybercrime Index, compiled by Oxford University and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Canberra, ranked Nigeria fifth among countries with the highest number of cybercriminals globally, behind Russia, Ukraine, China, and the United States.
Between December 2024 and January 2025 alone, officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested over 897 fraudsters on different occasions, including 197 foreigners. Interpol’s Operation Red Card, which led to the arrest of 306 suspects in seven African countries between November 2024 and February 2025, saw Nigeria lead with 130 arrests, surpassing Rwanda’s 45, South Africa’s 40, and Zambia’s 14 combined.
Meanwhile, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed that over 54,000 Americans reported being sextortion victims linked to Nigerian perpetrators in 2024 alone, up from 34,000 the previous year. Between 2023 and 2025, American teenagers also coughed up about $65 million to the international perpetrators in Nigeria.
“The reputation of our country is at an all-time low across the world,” said Dele Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson. “If you look at how other Nigerians are treated at airports, immigration, and customs, people are wary at various borders and airports. They subject us to extra scrutiny.”
He also revealed that the menace contributed to the country’s low direct foreign investment inflow. He identified damage to the youth’s future development capacity as a consequence of internet fraud in Nigeria. “We have a lot of convictions. In 2024, the Commission secured 4,111 convictions, the highest so far,” he said.
Who is OlaXash?
Originally a sex enhancement products vendor, Aphrodisiacs by OlaXash is a small-scale enterprise registered under the Corporate Affairs Commission with number 7102881 on Aug. 18, 2023. The brand, owned by Ogunsona Olaitan Victoria, who hails from Ondo town, recently celebrated its fourth anniversary in January 2025.
Ms Ogunsona began her entrepreneurial journey in 2021 while she was still an undergraduate at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko. DUBAWA uncovered this fact after analysing a video she posted on her oldest TikTok account on Sept. 23, 2021.
She made the video at the university’s New Relaxation Centre (RC). Behind her is the university’s Exams and Records building.
To validate our findings about her alma mater, we searched through the old account and found a video made inside one of the lecture halls in the university’s 30CQ premises.
Her earliest shop was at 2, First Molac, opposite Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo. At the time, she only focused on selling aphrodisiacs, and her CAC certificate indicates that she deals in all kinds of spiritual products, body enhancement, sex enhancement, and infection products.
She opened a unisex salon in Akure in December 2024 after joining the National Youth Service Corps in Ondo State four months earlier. In June 2025, she celebrated her passing-out parade (POP), marking the completion of her mandatory one-year national service.
Despite multiple attempts during our investigation, OlaXash repeatedly gave conflicting excuses to prevent DUBAWA from accessing her location. She said she doesn’t do physical consultations, and her salesgirl’s family member died. At another time, she said she went for fortification at Saki, Oyo state.
We inquired about her location from her dispatch rider, but he provided evasive responses. A further search through OlaXash’s posts showed he has been a trusted hand for her product delivery. Using Truecaller, we identified his name as Okoli Oyekanmi.
DUBAWA analysed videos on her social media and combined the findings with evidence from other reliable sources. We found her aphrodisiac shop at 40, Odige Street, Akure.
On April 30, 2025, she posted on her TikTok page that she was on the verge of opening another shop. Analyses of her Instagram posts revealed that she started actively posting the spiritual charms in 2023.
Within the period, OlaXash recently bought a 2013 Hyundai Sonata, which she revealed costs N18 million ($11,250). This differed from her second, a Toyota Venza (2008-2015 model), priced between N6.5 million ($4,062.50) and N13 million ($8,125), and her first, a 2010 Toyota Camry, which costs about N5 million ($3,125) to N12.5 million ($7,812.50).
How to use Oshole
Following up on her TikTok adverts, DUBAWA went the extra mile to purchase the charm and understand the process thoroughly. We messaged OlaXash on her WhatsApp number to negotiate the charms’ costs. She revealed that Oshole’s price varies from N110,000 ($68.75) to N250,000 ($156.25). Some of the Oshole variants we discovered she sells blue, 7-in-1 white, ebu, yellow, and the most prominent, black. Ghost Client Soap is another charm, more advanced than Oshole, and is created explicitly for internet fraudsters. This charm helps them attract and secure wealthier clients. It costs between N320,000 ($200) and N400,000 ($250).
Among fraudsters, “client” is a code word devised to avoid suspicion. It signifies the potential wealthy victim they are trying to defraud, not a real customer or business partner.
First-time users must use the curse-breaker soap, which costs N13,000. It purges the user’s spirit against any hindrance that can prevent the efficacy of the main charms.
If Oshole or Ghost Client Soap is beyond a first-time user’s budget, they can buy a starter kit, which costs between N43,000 ($26.88)and N68,000 ($42.5).
We bought the curse-breaker soap and the black Oshole for N160,000 ($100). The Oshole was a medium-sized calabash half-filled with locally made black soap. Six small white cowries were pressed into the calabash contents around a larger brown cowry.
OlaXash revealed that a user must start with the curse-breaker soap to purge them of any hindrance to the Oshole’s efficacy. Such a user must avoid sex for seven days and nights without a break. If the user is a woman, she should use it after completing her menstrual period, as menstruation can tamper with the charm’s efficacy. The user should use the charm at night and avoid leaving home after usage.
DUBAWA waited seven days before messaging her for instructions on using the Oshole charm. She said it is advisable to have sex before usage commences, as any sexual activity during usage is an abomination.
She provided further instructions, including that the user should bathe with it for seven days, preferably at 6 a.m. or at night between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m.
She said, “Whatever [the buyer] also desires should be claimed while bathing with it: ‘Wealth far and beyond, goodness left and right, demons carrying fortune should bring it to me, and well-paying clients should come my way.”
“If [the user] already has client(s), they can say: ‘May my client always heed my desires.’ It must be used every day apart from Wednesday,” she said in a WhatsApp voice note that DUBAWA obtained.
“Client” is a common term among Nigerian internet fraudsters, musicians who glorify them, and others who associate with them to describe unsuspecting victims of internet fraud, usually foreigners.
“They don’t work”— users counter
Despite these elaborate instructions and assurances on her social media page, not all users are convinced. DUBAWA found many TikTok users who challenged her charms’ efficacy in comment sections. In one of her pinned TikTok posts, she advertised the Ghost Client soap, which costs N330,000 ($206.25). Only seven comments out of 284 indicated interest in the charm, while the rest were hostile reactions.
DUBAWA messaged some followers who indicated interest in verifying the efficacy of her products, but none replied. One TikToker who replied vouched for her services, though he has not used her products personally. Traders close to her shop also reacted with hostility when we attempted to speak with them.
However, we found sources who shared their experience as affiliates in the dark world.
Dolapo* dated a fraudster who tried various spiritualists while in school, but none worked as expected. His friends also joined him in the futile search that often never seemed to end. “At some point, I started thinking that if he had gathered the money he regularly spent on these charms, it would be more profitable if he had started an enterprise instead of these futile efforts,” she said.
She revealed that some of his friends fared better than he did, but their sources could be more questionable. These factors, among others, made her fear for her life, which led to the relationship’s demise. “I began fearing for my safety, because I can’t guarantee my safety with a person who can go to all these lengths, bathing at midnight and rubbing charms on his body just to defraud a white victim,” she said.
Jaiyeola*, another former fraudster, spent more than N100,000 ($62.5) on three occasions for two spiritualists after subtle peer pressure. The allure was undeniable as he observed them from the sidelines during his undergraduate days in 2012. He said he started “asking for updates” on how his “hustle” could become a success story, too. “They told me it was just to speed up my money-making prospects, that I’d be able to do things with less effort and get plenty of rewards,” he said, while his face betrayed the anger he tried to suppress.
The first charm he tried cost N40,000 ($25), a significant sum for a student, but one he was willing to sacrifice. After receiving the items and following the instructions precisely, he bathed at night for three days, waiting for his fortunes to change, but nothing happened.
When he reported his lack of results, his friend suggested he needed a more spiritually compatible charm. This time, he needed a sum of N60,000 ($37.5). Desperate, he borrowed the money from a relative, convinced by his friends’ assurances that the investment would pay off. Yet again, after faithfully following the ritual, there were no results. “Like the first time, nothing happened. My friends were supportive, though. I felt maybe it just wasn’t meant for me.”
He gave up and refrained from patronising them until he graduated. However, he was forced back to the old ways after experiencing hardship after school. This time, he found a different spiritualist to help unlock the promised prosperity.
He said, “I went to him and said I needed help, as long as it didn’t involve anything evil. He recommended another preparation, and I used it as instructed, but somewhere along the line, I lost interest in proceeding. That was the end of it.”
Since then, he has focused on personal improvement with God’s help. It has been slow progress, but he said he’s content.
While users like Jaiyeola express disappointment, spiritual practitioners offer a different perspective. Oluwo Akintomide, a spiritualist and lawyer, dispelled common misconceptions about Oshole as a magical shortcut to wealth for the idle or unemployed. “Oshole works alongside the work of your hand. You cannot be jobless and be doing Oshole. You won’t see anything,” he said.
In a TikTok post, he likened Oshole to a “signal booster” that expands one’s “circumference of possibilities,” but only for those already engaged in productive work. He said, “It will cooperate with the work of your hand. Whether you are a trader, an entrepreneur, a business person, a contractor, or work online.”
“You must have something you are doing before you have something to boost it. It’s not for people who sleep and wake up. Oshole will only help you boost the work of your hands.”
He also addressed concerns about the morality and safety of such spiritual practices, stating that harmless charms hold no repercussions after usage. “We have universal rights over plants, animals, roots, and herbs. The only thing we don’t have rights over is the life of another human being,” he said. “As long as what you are doing does not involve taking another human being’s life or destroying another human being’s life, it will work for you well and there will be no repercussions.”
He asserted that Oshole is a spiritual enhancement for those already striving, not a replacement for hard work. “If somebody used to make N500,000, you can start making N5 million with Oshole. That is how it works. So you need to have something to do before you can boost it with spiritual fortifications.”
TikTok, home for Oshole vendors
Among Nigerian youths, TikTok is a prime space for vendors and marketers targeting a youthful audience and digital natives. As of early 2025, data from DataReportal revealed that TikTok boasted 37.4 million users in Nigeria, accounting for 15.8% of the national population and 35% of the country’s internet user base, who are mostly youth.
The data reflect the global trend where 36% of users worldwide are aged 18–24, 20% are in their teenage years, and another 25% in the 25–34 bracket. Users 35 years and above complete the numbers. As of 2025, only Indonesia (+22%) and Brazil (+18%) beat Nigeria’s 17% growth rate, making it the African country with the highest growth rate. Egypt, the nearest African country, occupied fifth position with a 14% surge.
While Instagram and YouTube have seen their user numbers decline, TikTok continues to grow, thanks in part to its short-form video format and viral content culture. Spiritual product sellers, including Oshole vendors, leverage TikTok’s algorithm and massive youth audience for advertising, often through trending videos, testimonials, and influencer partnerships.
Numerous accounts now openly promote Oshole and similar charms on TikTok, using hashtags and visually engaging content to attract the attention of the most receptive audiences. Using keywords on DorkGPT, DUBAWA identified more than 22 TikTok accounts selling Oshole, even to audiences beyond Nigerian shores.
One such TikTok user, Ifa Adeleke, has over 42,500 followers, and his posts have received over 201,400 reactions as of May 18, 2025. Another, identified as Ifayomi247, has over 51,200 followers and 179,600 reactions.
Advertising the charm for fraudsters violates TikTok’s community principles on regulated goods and commercial activities. The principle states that TikTok does not allow the trade or marketing of regulated, prohibited, or high-risk goods and services. Such goods enjoy illegal traffic on unofficial markets (black or grey markets) and are “regulated for a reason.”
As a control mechanism, the platform deployed diverse efforts against defaulters, including automated detection. Between July and September 2024, the platform removed over two million videos uploaded by Nigerian users for violating its community guidelines. Also, OlaXash disclosed on Feb.27, 2025, that her main TikTok page has been banned permanently.
Data from the platform’s 2024 Q3 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report revealed that 99.1% of the removals occur within 24 hours. The platform also removed 92.1% of the videos before any community member reported them.
However, vendors exploit some fundamental weaknesses to ply their trade. Using slang or disguising harmful charms, such as Oshole, as harmless spiritual services, they evade the platform’s automated detection. Also, they quickly adapt to takedowns by reposting content through new accounts or tweaking their language just enough to slip past the filters.
Moreover, the platform’s inability to understand local contexts hinders it from automatically identifying such dangerous posts, despite claiming a 98.2% proactive detection rate globally.
Vendors selling harmful products successfully exploit the limitation when appealing their account ban.
Exploiting these regulatory gaps poses real consequences for the platform’s users. Such charms are now normalised on TikTok, increasing vendors’ sales and access to a larger audience interested in online fraud. The products’ widespread presence legitimises them to vulnerable youth and helps accelerate demand and use.
These regulatory lapses compromise TikTok’s community safety and broader societal well-being. As such products gain fame on the platform, impressionable young Nigerians become more vulnerable.
These cast a doubt on TikTok’s commitment to curbing illegal activities on its site. As long as TikTok fails to understand and act on local, cultural, and linguistic realities, it will remain a key avenue through which fraud-related charms spread and thrive in Nigeria.
What does the law say?
OlaXash and other sellers’ promotion of Oshole charms to internet fraudsters on TikTok raises significant legal questions under Nigerian law. While no statute explicitly prohibits advertising spiritual products, her activities violate several regulatory frameworks.
Section 210 of the Nigerian Criminal Code criminalises possessing juju or charms intended for harmful purposes, such as aiding fraud. Subsection C particularly says,
“Any person who makes or sells or uses, or assists or takes part in making or selling or using or has in his possession or represents himself to be in possession of any juju, drug or charm which is intended to be used or reported to possess the power to prevent or delay any person from doing an act which such person has a legal right to do, or to compel any person to do an act which such person has a legal right to refrain from doing, or which is alleged or reported to possess the power of causing any natural phenomenon or any disease or epidemic; is guilty of misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for two years.”
Her actions also contravene Section 213(a) of the Criminal Code, which says,
“Anyone who makes, sells or keeps for sale or for hire or reward, any fetish or charm which is pretended or reputed to possess power to protect burglars, robbers, thieves or other malefactors, or to aid or assist in any way in the perpetration of any burglary, housebreaking, robbery or theft, or in the perpetration of any offence whatsoever, or to prevent, hinder or delay the detection of or conviction for any offence whatsoever; is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for five years.”
Based on available evidence on her Instagram page, authorities could argue that marketing Oshole as a tool for enabling cybercrime contravenes the Cybercrimes (Prohibition) Act, which penalises aiding fraud through “any means.” Though she is not a principal offender under Sections 22 (identity theft/impersonation) and 14 (computer-related fraud), her services support internet fraudsters’ activities in the country, thereby violating Section 27(b), which says,
“Any person who aids, abets, conspires, counsels, or procures another person(s) to commit any offence under this Act; commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to the punishment provided for the principal offence under this Act.”
By interpretation, OlaXash conspires, aids, and abets the violation of Sections 22 and 14 of the Cybercrime Act. Under the Cybercrime Act, she is liable on conviction to not less than 14 years imprisonment cumulatively, a fine of not less than N29 million, or both fine and imprisonment.
“Ignorantia juris non excusat,” said Victor Giwa, a legal practitioner and the national coordinator of Advocates for People’s Rights and Justice. The expression is a legal term coined from Latin, which means ignorance of the law is not excusable.
He explained that the law targets possession, promotion, and sale of such items with the intent to facilitate crime.
He distinguished between the lawful use of charms for personal protection and their unlawful use to aid criminal activities. He said, “Carrying a charm for self-defence against theft or armed robbery does not constitute a crime under Section 213 of the Criminal Code. However, when such items are used or sold to enable or conceal criminal acts, the law unequivocally deems this illegal.”
Despite the law’s clarity, Mr Giwa expressed concern over the inadequate enforcement of these provisions. He pointed out that agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have the authority to prosecute offences related to charms but have not sufficiently prioritised this area. He called on security agencies, including the police, to establish specialised units dedicated to investigating the production and sale of these charms, monitoring their promotion online, and identifying traditional practitioners involved in these activities.
“Security agencies, particularly the police and other relevant authorities, should establish a dedicated unit responsible for investigating why people are making these charms, monitoring their activities on the internet, and identifying traditional or native doctors involved in such practices,” he said.
While practising traditional medicine is not illegal, practitioners must be held accountable if their activities contribute to crime. Giwa called for the proper registration of the traditional herbalists. He said, “There should be a unit within the Nigerian Police Force responsible for registering anyone who wishes to engage in traditional medicine. Many of these practitioners have contributed to the rising crime rate, especially among young people.”
Finally, he urged authorities to take decisive action against the charms’ online advertising. He recommended leveraging social media platforms to shut down accounts that openly promote these products, as such advertisements fuel criminal behaviour and worsen the problem.
EFCC sounds a warning to spiritualists
When we presented our findings to Mr Oyewale, the EFCC’s spokesperson, he revealed that the Commission will commence its independent investigation. He further warned spiritualists that the Commission would prosecute culprits who provided such support under the Cybercrime Act. He said, “If it can be established that there is criminal support, our laws provide for punishment for such people.”
He stated that the Commission will equally punish culprits aiding and abetting internet fraudsters under the relevant sections of the Nigerian law.
“The EFCC will not hesitate to invoke any relevant section of our law to deal with anyone aiding, abetting, or supporting Internet fraudsters to ply their trade. As long as it can be established, they’ll be treated like the major culprits, and society will be better for it.”
Ms Longe, citing the Cybercrime Act, urged the EFCC to take legal action against OlaXash and other vendors in the trade.
“In this scenario, the spiritual provider is using her services to boost young people’s confidence to commit fraud,” she said.
“After reviewing the messages and screenshots provided, it is evident that she is operating with impunity, despite the provisions of the Cybercrime Act. Law enforcement agencies should take action based on this evidence,” she added.
Editing/ research credits
- Lead Editor: Kemi Busari
- Sub Editor: Lois Ugbede
- Copy Editors: Simbiat Bakare, Ropo Sekoni
