The height at which cybercrime is rampant in Nigeria propelled me to pen this article. I begin to ask rhetorically, “Who will be Nigeria’s leaders tomorrow?”Are they the ones who believe opulence can only be accumulated through fraud? Frankly, the future of this country is winking in red and even imminently in a sorry case.
Youths are desperate for a faster path to affluence without breaking a sweat.This has made tons of unserious and myopic Nigerian teens venture into cybercrime, which can be regarded as “Yahoo-yahoo” in common or street lingo.
For clarification, there is a need to provide a crystal clear definition of internet fraud. According to Wikipedia, internet fraud is conceptualized as “the type of cybercrime fraud or deception which makes use of the internet and could involve the hiding of information or providing incorrect information for the purpose of tricking victims out of money, property, or inheritance.”
Internet fraud, as unsavoury as it is, has been a major venture which has contributed to the alleviation of domestic theft or robbery in society. We are indeed in the epoch of internet fraud, so to speak.
The pang of bag or luggage snatching has been reduced, at least to a barest minimum. In comparison to a few years ago, robberies are rarely reported.This illicit job in discourse has been another alternative to robbery and the like. I believe there is a political undertone here.
Higher institutions of learning have been metamorphosed into citadels for the acquisition of illegal ‘yahoo’ knowledge. They have expensive cars, luxurious houses, golden necklaces, and many other sophisticated materials. As a result, students wear togas of pomposity, which sincerely may be to the detriment of their excellence in their academic pursuits.
Since I was an infant, I have been inculcated with the belief that what will be, will definitely be – Que sera sera, irrespective of any barricade that may cross the path to accomplishing it. Destiny has immense control and aspects to play in everyone’s life. The thinking of some modern teenagers is contrary to this. They will want to run, like a horse, faster than their legs.
A number of victims, especially the white men, whom they usually refer to as’ clients’, have lugubriously fallen into the heartless hands of this set of’moral-lacking’ boys and even girls called ‘yahoo-boys’. Some victims have been hacked to death as a result of the cunning act or deceit they committed to secure a loan from the victim’s bank without his or her knowledge.
Imagine securing a humongous amount of loans from an individual’s bank without the person knowing anything. This is a show of cold-bloodedness of the highest degree. I put myself into the shoes of the victim when the person is asked to pay back the money that has been borrowed, unbeknownst to the person.
Nigerian youths who are into fraud are very desperate. And, uneschewably, misfortune awaits them in the near future.
Speculatively, internet fraud can’t be perpetrated with the exemption of voodoo, spell, or charm. This may be why
abduction for money ritual is done on a daily basis in Nigeria. Those who are aiding them in preparing spells or charms are also to be castigated.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2021 report of internet crime, people lost more than $6.9 billion to internet crimes in 2021, and a total of 847, 376 internet crime complaints were filed in 2021, which is a 7% increase from 2020.
The government’s refusal to offer hapless citizens who have graduated from universities, polytechnics, and colleges begets rampant cases of cybercrime in Nigeria. If employment opportunities are provided, the dastardly act will, indubitably, decrease in the community.
However, internet fraud is punishable under the law as stipulated in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is charged with the constitutional duty of preventing, foiling, and apprehending the perpetrators of the act in discourse.
On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, the duo of Ogundijo Olamilekan and Adeniran Tijesunimi were reportedly convicted or sentenced as a result of their involvement in cybercrime.
Also, the Benin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, reportedly secured the sentencing of internet fraudsters, namely Harmony Enobakhare and Lucky Uhunamure Osamudiamen.
This is done not to make fun of them, but to broaden the reading public’s horizons so that what is unsavoury has no other name than being unsavoury.
No doubt, international fraudsters in Nigeria have put a filth on the white linen of the country’s integrity in the comity of nations. Fraud is bad. Distance yourself from it to avoid regret at the end.
Olayode Inaolaji, Ogbomoso, Oyo state.
inaolajiolayode@gmail.com
