Alarmingly, internet fraud, known as ‘Yahoo-Yahoo,’ is prospering in Nigeria in ways that were perhaps previously unimaginable. Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede recently provided insight into the scale of its growth. Quoting the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), he said: “Nigeria’s yearly loss to internet fraud amounted to over $500 million. In one year!”

He added that more than 71 percent of Nigerian businesses fell victim to cybercriminals in 2022 alone, and Nigerian banks lost over N8bn to electronic transfer fraud in the first nine months of 2022.

He supplied more stunning information, telling journalists that the agency had discovered that “in almost all the states of Nigeria, all the sub-nationals, we have what we call ‘419 training schools’ where they harvest our children from primary schools.”

It is noteworthy that ‘419’ refers to Section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code, which criminalises obtaining money from people by pretence or impersonation, cheating, falsification, counterfeiting, forgery and fraudulent representation of facts. ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ is considered an offshoot of the so-called ‘419’ business of the 1980s and 1990s.

According to the EFCC boss, “When they leave school, they end up in some of these ‘419’ training schools. They start indoctrinating them. These are facts. They even ask their parents to sign an undertaking. After that, they induct them and some of these fraudsters start paying their school fees and indoctrinate them into cybercrime; as young as they are… Even children of those from wealthy homes are doing it now. It’s a trend!”

Indeed, this is a corrupted approach to the concept of ‘catch them young.’ The question must be asked: How did Nigeria get to this point? It indicates a disintegration of the structures of socialisation, including the family unit, educational and religious institutions. It also demonstrates how the country’s youths have been negatively influenced by actors in the structures of power, many of whom flaunt unexplained wealth.

In a viral video that drove the point home, the EFCC boss recounted the case of a 17-year-old undergraduate student of History who was being investigated for internet fraud. “He’s not doing anything science. The guy sat in my office in Lagos and demonstrated some things to me on my laptop. He asked for my mobile number, through my number he got my BVN (Bank Verification Number). He now mentioned the name of my account number to me and the bank, and I didn’t tell him anything.”

He said the agency had created a cybercrime research centre where ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ convicts would be trained to use their Information Technology (IT) knowledge and skill positively. This is a commendable intervention.

Olukoyede likened thriving internet fraud in the country to “sitting on a keg of gunpowder,” saying the commission could not “close its eyes to that kind of situation.” He described the agency’s focus on cybercrime investigation and prosecution as “rescuing the future of Nigeria.”

Signs of the undesirable growth of internet fraud were noticeable when, in 2019, the then acting EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, lamented that there was a group in the country called Association of Mothers of Yahoo-Yahoo Boys, formed by the mothers of cyber criminals, who justified their children’s unlawful activities with the argument that they were supporting their families in place of irresponsible, runaway or dead fathers.

The existence of ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ schools nationwide is a new low formalising fraud. The situation demands greater action from the authorities against cybercrime. Such schools should be located, and shut down; and the operators should be arrested, prosecuted and punished, to serve as a deterrent.

Thriving cybercrime gives the country a bad image. Law enforcement is crucial in dealing with it. This must happen based on a holistic approach that pays attention to contributory socio-economic factors.

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