Cyber Fraud has gradually become a recent trend in Nigeria. Many young adults are venturing into it because they see fraud as the only way to beat poverty early and make wealth. Cyber Fraud in Nigeria is popularly known as "Yahoo Yahoo" and this is a method of defrauding people, i.e taking money from people under pretence, falsification, cheating, impersonation and other fraudulent acts.

Cyber Fraud in Nigeria has been here for decades now and with the speed at which cyber fraud is moving in Nigeria, it doesn't look like it's gonna end soon. Cyber Fraud in Nigeria has given the country a bad reputation. Nigeria is now among the popular countries known for internet fraud most especially romance or dating scams. The majority of the Nigerian youths are lost in the world of cyber Fraud. There have been several cases of Nigerian Youths arrested for cyber fraud, among the popular ones is Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a.k.a Hushpuppi, an Instagram celebrity and influencer, who is currently being tried in various courts for cyber fraud which has to do with business email compromise and money laundering.

How do these Yahoo boys operate? 

They have several ways of duping their victims which they call "Clients" and are mostly foreigners. Ways like email phishing, romance scam, identity theft, impersonation, business email compromise fraud, shady business deals, etc. Their tool includes laptops connected to the internet mostly 24/7 and their phones mostly used when they're outside the house and always connected to MiFi. Recently, it has been recorded that these yahoo boys have started using metaphysical powers from herbalists which they believe will help hypnotise their victims right from the beginning of the defrauding till the end. They called this category of fraudsters: "Yahoo plus" boys or "G-boys". It is even believed to have upgraded to using human parts, and this is called "Yahoo plus plus". Such a grievous act!!!

What has the Nigerian government done concerning this? 

The Nigerian government has an agency that fights against financial crimes known as EFCC (Economic and financial crimes commission). There are weekly events of criminal cases whereby the EFCC parades young men for cyber fraud or some being jailed by courts for internet fraud-related offences in Nigeria. This has even become the norm recently. In the southwest region part of the country, places like Lagos, Ibadan, Oshogbo, Akure, Ekiti etc, are known to have a large number of Yahoo boys. There's a common trait of a yahoo boy, they are known to drive expensive cars, shop in luxurious boutiques, and date the prettiest girl in town. Another common trait is their way of dressing, they tend to wear big designer tops with striped jean trousers, always sagging? and rocking expensive jewellery.

However, with all these known, it seems as though the effort of the Nigerian government to curb these fraudulent activities has been futile.

Also, it should be known that there's no justification for involvement in cyber fraud, anyone involved knows why they are doing it and know it's illegal. You could choose to do legal work or business but once you decide to do cyber fraud, then that's on you , it should not be blamed on the circumstance you find yourself in or the country you live in. It's you! I believe if the Nigerian government can set up a more strict and non-corrupt agency alongside the agencies put in place to fight cybercrimes, there would be a drastic change in society.

Dear readers, What exactly do you think is the cause of cyber fraud? And do you think it's possible to put an end to cyber fraud in Nigeria? Let me know in the comment section. Thank you for reading through ❤️.