The height at which the cybercrime is rampant in Nigeria propelled me to pen this article. I begin to ask rhetorically that; Who are even the leaders of Nigeria 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 sorry case.
Youths are desperately in search of swifter affluence without wanting to shed a shred of sweat. This has made tons of unserious and myopic Nigerian teens to venture into crybercrime, also called: “Yahoo-yahoo” in a common or street lingo.
For clarification, there is need to provide crystal 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 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 that has contributed to the alleviation of domestic theft or robbery in the society. We are indeed, in the epoch of internet fraud, so to say.
The pang of bag or luggages snatching, at least to a barest minimum, has reduced. Hardly will you hear the reported case of robbery comparing to some years back. This illicit job in discourse has been another alternative of robbery and the likes. This is as different to the carnage being launched by men of underworld day by day in Nigeria, which I perceived there must be political tone underneath.
Higher institutions of learning have been metamorphosed to a citadel for acquisition of illegal ‘yahoo’ knowledge. Expensive cars, luxurious houses, golden necklaces and many other sophisticated materials are possessed by them. As a result, students wear toga of pomposity which sincerely may be at the detriment of their excellence in their academic pursuit.
Since my 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 aspect to play in everyone’s life. The thinking of some mordern teenagers is contrary to this. They will want to run, like horse, faster than their legs.
A number of victims especially the white men, which they usually referred to as ‘clients’, have lugubriously fell into the heartless hand of this set of ‘moral-lacking’ boys and even girs called ‘yahoo-boys’. Some victims have been hacked to death as a result of the cunning act or deceit they applied to secure a loan from the victim’s s bank without his/her knowledge.
Imagine, securing a humongous amount of loan 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 victims when the person is asked to be paying back the money that is borrowed in unbeknownst to the person.
Nigerian youths who are into fraud are very desperate. And uneschewably, misfortune awaits them in the nearest future.
Speculatively, internet fraud can’t be perpetrated with the exemption of voodoo, spell or charm. This may be while abduction for money ritual is on daily basis in Nigeria. Those who is aiding them to prepare spells or charms are also to be castigated.
According to Federal Bureau of Investigation 2021 report of internet crime, people lost more than $6.9billion to internet crimes and a total number of 847, 376 internet crime complaints were filled in 2021, which is 7 percent increase from 2020.
The government’s refusal to offer hapless citizens who have graduated from universities, polytechnics, 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. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is charged with the constitutional duty to curb or foil and nab the committers 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, Benin Zonal Command of the EFCC on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, reportedly secured the sentencing of internet fraudsters namely Harmony Enobakhare and Lucky Uhunamure Osamudiamen.
This is made not to make jest of them but to broaden the horizon of the reading public that what is unsavoury has no name than being unsavoury.
No doubt, internert fraudsters in Nigeria have put a filth on the white linen of the country integrity in the comity of nations. Fraud is bad, distance yourself to it to avoid regret at the end.
Inaolaji, a social commentator, writes from Ogbomoso, Oyo state