By Dan Onwukwe
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Uyo Zonal Office, Calabar, Cross River State, made huge arrests early this month. One of those in EFCC net is an alleged kingpin of cybercrime. A 29-year-old Joel Onoriode is a father of two. Luck ran out on him during two separate raids of suspected internet fraudsters in the area.
He was arrested in his swanky, lavishly furnished duplex, which he confessed was bought with proceeds from his illicit ‘Yahoo’business. He has multiple bank accounts in different currencies, one of them, an offshore account in China. All of these exclude three eye-popping luxury cars, among them a Range Rover SUV. All have been recovered from him.
For many ‘Yahoo boys’, this is a ticket to another good life. But, a day of reckoning always awaits every criminal. And it often comes with chilling confessions. This is what Joel told the EFCC; quote: “Please, don’t tell my children that their father is a ‘Yahoo boy’. Now, the adage, “come easy, go easy”, has become a grim, gritty truth.
The truth is that there are many ‘Yahoo boys’ like Joel across the country who are living on the fast lane with proceeds from this illicit act. They have deceived many people and even destroyed their own lives and that of their families. Lives of young ladies have been wrecked by runaway ‘Yahoo husbands’.
Nigeria’s image continues to take a battering because of the activities of these cyber fraudsters. Our economy has also taken a severe hit. Nigeria is reported to be responsible for billions of dollars out of the global loss to the rising cybercrime. Report has it that somebody’s identity is stolen every three seconds as a result of the menace. Indeed, cybercrime is currently said to have surpassed illegal drug trafficking as a criminal means of making money around the world. Undoubtedly, internet fraud is taking its toll on the nation’s economy. It also endangers national security. Security experts say that cybercrime comes in different forms, including 419, phishing, social engineering, cyber bullying, identity theft, software piracy, intellectual property theft and malware attacks.
In fact, the Annual report of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), revealed that fraud on e-payment platform of Nigeria’s banking sector is on the every year. Furthermore, global tracking of cyber attacks indicate that Nigeria is among countries that are vulnerable to software piracy and other cybercrimes.
Apart from financial losses, the activities of cybercrime fraudsters have given Nigeria a bad image as the country is stereotyped as a cybercrime nation. This is based on the rising cases of internet criminals known as“Yahoo boys” who are scamming unsuspecting people, including foreigners, online. While the anti graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) continues to be on the prowl against them, it is yet to deter many of them from the crime.
Now is therefore time to enforce the Cybercrime Act 2015. The passage of the Cybercrime Bill into Law four years ago did raise a glimmer of hope that Nigeria is ready to tackle the scourge. The enforcement of certain aspects of the law have been described as selective, making it possible for most of the criminals to continue to have a field day. Thus, EFCC needs the cooperation of all to deal with cybercrime. Office of the National Security Adviser should help illuminate more public discourse on the problems that cybercrime poses to the country.
CBN should introduce new regulations to curb the rising losses that emanate from cybercrime. The upsurge in cyber fraud requires redesigning regulations that will address risks that currently make banks and financial services firms susceptible to money laundering, terrorist financial flows and other transactions that pass through their networks to fraudulent beneficiaries.
This is necessary because, in today’s interconnected, borderless networking, unregulated financial services can become vulnerable to internet hackers to conduct illegal activities online.
Comments are closed for this post.