This is an ethnography of internet scams in Abidjan through which I attempt to develop a theory of digital sorcery. The brouteurs of Côte d'Ivoire impersonate Europeans in social media profiles and seduce others into falling in love with them. After months of flirtatious messaging and photo exchanges, disaster strikes their avatar and they ask for an emergency wire transfer from their digital lover. While millions of euros of income are sent to Abidjan every year, the brouteurs say they can no longer succeed without the use of occult forces, and they turn to marabouts for assistance. During my fieldwork in 2015, rumours circulated that brouteur wealth depended on the blood sacrifice of children for its success. As Ivoirians increasingly employ smartphones and social media in their daily life, the anxieties concerning the illusions and manipulations of the virtual world become enmeshed with those of the occult second world. I suggest that the overlap between hacker technology, con artistry and occult power outlined in Ivoirian urban rumour suggests a model for rethinking the space of virtuality in the global economy as a form of magical semiosis, one that can be every bit as vitality draining as witchcraft itself.

这是阿比让互联网诈骗的民族志，我试图通过它来发展数字巫术理论。科特迪瓦的骗子在社交媒体资料中冒充欧洲人，引诱他人爱上他们。经过数月的调情消息和照片交换，灾难袭击了他们的化身，他们要求从他们的数字情人那里紧急电汇。虽然每年有数百万欧元的收入被送到阿比让，但布鲁特人说，如果不使用神秘力量，他们就无法再成功，他们转向马博斯寻求帮助。在我 2015 年的实地考察期间，有传言说布鲁特财富的成功取决于儿童的鲜血牺牲。随着科特迪瓦人在日常生活中越来越多地使用智能手机和社交媒体，对虚拟世界的幻觉和操纵的焦虑与神秘的第二世界的焦虑交织在一起。我认为，科特迪瓦城市谣言中概述的黑客技术、骗术和神秘力量之间的重叠表明了一种模式，可以将全球经济中的虚拟空间重新思考为一种神奇的符号学形式，它可以像巫术一样消耗生命力本身。