Yahoo in Nigeria is not often your normal Yahoo. In fact, it could be a far cry from it, especially when it is placed in quotation marks. It then becomes a popular moniker for the Dark Web in the country. It is originally a popular slang for basic internet fraud such as love scams but it has rapidly grown beyond that to encompass activities such as fake job adverts, identity theft, hacking, false e-messages to gain to bank details, employment scams and so on. And so vast and growing is this illicit economy that if it were to be legitimate, it would be the fourth contributor to the economy, after agriculture, manufacturing and services. Tourism used to contribute about $14billion to the economy but conservative estimates put the proceeds of internet crime in Nigeria at $17 billion. This disparity could be wider. The Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east and growing insecurity in the rest of the country, especially kidnapping, have succeeded in putting many prospective tourists and visitors off and cyber crime is widely under-reported. Many victims simply chose not to report their losses as they are limited to what is easily affordable in affluent societies of the US, Japan, Canada, Australia and western Europe. Few fraudsters now move for big bucks, funds that will easily attract attention and reportage. A hundred dollars might be small beer in the US but in Nigeria, with the heinous exchange rate, it is huge money that rapidly accumulates and enables the criminal to buy flashy cars and homes and spend money like hell in nightclubs.
The rank and file of fraudsters are growing by leaps and bounds and it is easy blaming the horrible unemployment situation in the country for it but it hardly justifies secondary school students and dropouts going to the extreme to own laptops and smartphones and delving straight into 'Yahoo' business. In a country hardly noted for its work ethics, 'Yahoo' money is easy money and it catapults successful ones into a life of glamour and adulation. 'Yahoo boys' are the toasts of a society that can go the extreme to worship wealth and these individuals always have their praises sung to high heavens by musicians at parties and other social functions. To make it in the society, internet fraudsters provide a dark inspiration to many, so also are politicians, many of who are also former scammers, guys who had simply bought their way to the top with the proceeds of their illicit internet income.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, better known as EFCC, is the agency set up by the federal government to specifically combat this menace and it has been doing its better to arrest culprits and prosecute them. Many have been sent to jail and cash and material proceeds confiscated. Some money have also been returned to victims but the bottom line is that the commission is stretched thin. The number of these fraudsters in Lagos alone is estimated to be ten thousand. Many cities abound in the country and the criminals need not even stay in urban areas again, where their activities will be easily scrutinized. Internet services now penetrate even the remotest of provinces and all the individual needs to do is acquire a laptop or smartphone and hide in a hut for months. The EFCC can only monitor few places and individuals at a time. The banks, which those funds must pass through are not helping at all. The anti-corruption posture of the Buhari administration has deprived many banks of slush funds corralled from government revenues. These used to be the cash cows of illegal gains and bank officials are just too happy now to collaborate with fraudsters, collecting hefty percentages in order to pass on 'Yahoo' money. That would be money laundering but many bank officials regard that as mere semantics.
But that is just a tiny view of the overall picture. Officials are confronted by resolute, intrepid youths in their early or mid twenties who are not afraid to serve a 7-year jail term, the maximum penalty under extant laws, knowing very well that after coming out of jail, they will still have enough strength and vigor to make something out of life with hidden wealth or to simply continue in their old ways. And the society will readily welcome them back, a group of citizens that regard 'Yahoo' as a 'soft crime'. Not few Nigerians argue that since colonialists plundered African resources, fraud proceeds are fair returns, a regain of what white people stole from their forefathers. The counter argument that countries like Sweden, Japan and China and many other countries that lose millions of dollars every year to these criminals never did engage in colonial adventures in Africa does not receive much reception. To them, any white-skinned person is fair game.
It is a dark economy that will not abate soon. The resources to combat it is not just there. And matters got to a head of recent when a video, not verified, surfaced on the net. In it, you could see a white woman screaming at the security forces to leave 'Yahoo' boys alone and that white women are just too happy sending money to them.
The rank and file of fraudsters are growing by leaps and bounds and it is easy blaming the horrible unemployment situation in the country for it but it hardly justifies secondary school students and dropouts going to the extreme to own laptops and smartphones and delving straight into 'Yahoo' business. In a country hardly noted for its work ethics, 'Yahoo' money is easy money and it catapults successful ones into a life of glamour and adulation. 'Yahoo boys' are the toasts of a society that can go the extreme to worship wealth and these individuals always have their praises sung to high heavens by musicians at parties and other social functions. To make it in the society, internet fraudsters provide a dark inspiration to many, so also are politicians, many of who are also former scammers, guys who had simply bought their way to the top with the proceeds of their illicit internet income.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, better known as EFCC, is the agency set up by the federal government to specifically combat this menace and it has been doing its better to arrest culprits and prosecute them. Many have been sent to jail and cash and material proceeds confiscated. Some money have also been returned to victims but the bottom line is that the commission is stretched thin. The number of these fraudsters in Lagos alone is estimated to be ten thousand. Many cities abound in the country and the criminals need not even stay in urban areas again, where their activities will be easily scrutinized. Internet services now penetrate even the remotest of provinces and all the individual needs to do is acquire a laptop or smartphone and hide in a hut for months. The EFCC can only monitor few places and individuals at a time. The banks, which those funds must pass through are not helping at all. The anti-corruption posture of the Buhari administration has deprived many banks of slush funds corralled from government revenues. These used to be the cash cows of illegal gains and bank officials are just too happy now to collaborate with fraudsters, collecting hefty percentages in order to pass on 'Yahoo' money. That would be money laundering but many bank officials regard that as mere semantics.
But that is just a tiny view of the overall picture. Officials are confronted by resolute, intrepid youths in their early or mid twenties who are not afraid to serve a 7-year jail term, the maximum penalty under extant laws, knowing very well that after coming out of jail, they will still have enough strength and vigor to make something out of life with hidden wealth or to simply continue in their old ways. And the society will readily welcome them back, a group of citizens that regard 'Yahoo' as a 'soft crime'. Not few Nigerians argue that since colonialists plundered African resources, fraud proceeds are fair returns, a regain of what white people stole from their forefathers. The counter argument that countries like Sweden, Japan and China and many other countries that lose millions of dollars every year to these criminals never did engage in colonial adventures in Africa does not receive much reception. To them, any white-skinned person is fair game.
It is a dark economy that will not abate soon. The resources to combat it is not just there. And matters got to a head of recent when a video, not verified, surfaced on the net. In it, you could see a white woman screaming at the security forces to leave 'Yahoo' boys alone and that white women are just too happy sending money to them.
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