Understanding Cybercrime Perpetrators and the Strategies They Employ in Nigeria

Abstract

A lot has been written on cybercrime and its prevention, but the problem has proved particularly resilient to remedial action. Desperate and vulnerable individuals in every continent continue to fall into its trap. Despite this, there is dearth of descriptive study that attempts to unravel the strategies employed by the perpetrators in Nigeria, as an important precondition for workable and reliable policy direction to address the problem. This article has filled this gap by using data from 40 cybercrime perpetrators selected with snowballing technique. The findings revealed that most of the cybercrime perpetrators in Nigeria are between the age of 22 and 29 years who were undergraduates and have distinctive lifestyles from other youths. Their strategies include collaboration with security agents and bank officials, local and international networking, and the use of voodoo that is, traditional supernatural power. It was clear that most perpetrators of cybercrime were involved in on-line dating and buying and selling with fake identity among others. The article discussed the need for reorientation of Nigerian youths in higher institutions, and various methods as guiding principles for potential victims. It recommended a complete reorganization of the Nigerian Police Force and Economic and Financial Crime Commission, as some of the officers in the institutions aid and abet cybercrime. It finally suggested a review of the Nigerian law guiding the operations of banking, poster agencies, and various speed post services in the country, as these are necessary preconditions to effectively combat the problem.

Introduction

The inventions of the computer and the Internet have brought a remarkable progress in technology in human society and are benefiting the contemporary societies in numerous ways. Since these are accompanied by unlimited opportunities, they have also provided unlimited possibilities for criminal activities across the globe and raise concern for the safety of Internet use.^1,2 Thus, in the last few decades, cybercrime is one of the problems attracting global attention, and every attempt at eradicating or reducing it is proving abortive. Criminals no longer need to be at a crime scene, but can perpetrate crime especially through cyberspace from anywhere and at anytime. Technological development has, therefore, opened the door for the bad and ugly to come in, and the undesirable elements now take advantage of the digital culture to do harm to the unwary.^2,3

Nigeria has an unenviable image in cyberspace due to the activities of a few cyberdeviants generally referred to as “Yahoo boys” (categories of youths in Nigeria who specialize in various types of cybercrime).^2,4–7 Nigeria ranks third among the cybercrime committing countries in the world in the 2007 Internet crime report by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).^3,8–10 The most common cybercrimes in Nigerian Internet landscape include hucksters, fraudsters, piracy, and hacking.^9,11–14 Some mediums for perpetrating cybercrime in Nigeria include cybercafés (where bulk tickets are being sold for sending spam mails, some systems dedicated to fraudsters for hacking and sending fraudulent mails and sharing their bandwidth for home use),^15,16 fixed wireless Internet facility, which allows fraudsters to perpetrate their acts within the comfort of their homes,⁸ mobile telephoning,¹⁶ use of credit cards and debit cards, postal agencies and banks that facilitate money transfer facilities, checks, and money orders.

Nigerian Government has made some attempts to reduce the menace to bearest minimum with the establishment of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), the partnership of EFCC with Microsoft Company, and sponsoring of a bill on cybercrime to address the problem.^11,12 Despite these, cybercrime has proved particularly resilient to remedial action. Desperate and vulnerable individuals in every continent continue to fall into its trap, and there is dearth of descriptive study that attempts to unravel the strategies employed by the perpetrators in Nigeria. This is an important precondition for workable and reliable policy direction to address the problem. This article, therefore, provides the report of descriptive study on the strategies employed by the cybercriminals popularly called “Yahoo boys” in Nigeria.

Nigeria has more than 140 million people with more than 250 ethnic groups, three of which are dominants, namely Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa/Fulani. Nigeria has more than 1 percent Internet threshold considered essential for economic growth and development and has a fair regulation and free competition among Internet Service Providers (ISPs).^16–18 The Internet diffusion has been largely confined to major cities with some secondary cities where higher institutions of learning are located as having a growing number of points of presence.¹⁸ There are 10 or more ISPs in Nigeria. This calls for the need to embark on this study on cybercrime in Nigeria. This study, therefore, aims at investigating the operations of cybercriminals as a necessary condition for effectively combating the problem.

Methods

This study employed the use of qualitative technique to collect primary data from the perpetrators of cybercrime in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. In order to gain access to the Yahoo boys, two research assistants who were undergraduates but not perpetrators of cybercrime were employed, as the students knew their class members who were Yahoo boys. For the first 6 months of the study, the research assistants were to create a good rapport with two Yahoo boys. They were also to facilitate a close relationship between the researchers and their new friends who were Yahoo boys. After a good relationship had been built, the researchers disclosed their intention to collect data, which lasted for 4 months, on cybercrime activities among Yahoo boys for academic purpose. The two Yahoo boys were then co-opted as research assistants. Data were collected with snowballing sampling technique. Out of 63 Yahoo boys selected, 40 agreed and consented to participate in the study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with the perpetrators; and the sessions were tape recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Verbal consent of each perpetrator was properly obtained. In order to guarantee anonymity, personal information that could be used to identify the participants was not obtained. Ethical clearance was obtained from Obafemi Awolowo University Ethical Committee. Occasional visits were made to some cybercafé with the four research assistants, to access Internet services as nonparticipant observers to verify the data. Content analysis was employed to analyze the data collected and the reports presented under different sub-themes as described next:

How to identify the Yahoo boys

Identification of Yahoo boys is very important, as this may help the relevant agents combating the crime in apprehending some of the perpetrators, thereby reducing the incidence. Key informants were then asked of the characteristics of those involved in cybercrime. They noted that identifying the Yahoo boys was very easy because of the way they live. The Yahoo boys usually brag, sag, do things loudly, drive flashy cars, and change cars frequently. They turn their music loud and wear expensive and latest clothes and jewelry. They also have a special way of dressing and relate, they spend lavishly, love material things, and go to clubs. They are prominent at night parties picking prostitutes at night. They also move in groups of two, three, and four when going to eateries. They speak different coded languages and use coded words such as “Mugun,” “Maga,” and “Maga don pay,” which all means “the fool (i.e., their victim) has paid.”

Results

Sociodemographic characteristics

The sociodemographic characteristics data revealed that cybercrime perpetrators in Nigeria cut across youths from different social backgrounds with half of the respondents (50 percent) between the ages of 22 and 25 years, whereas another 40 percent were between 26 and 29 years. Many young people in Nigeria are in higher institutions at these ages. Most of the informants (95 percent) were undergraduate students. This is also in line with earlier findings.¹² Students do not have influence on the allocation of bed spaces, and it is unsafe for perpetrators to operate in the presence of fellow students they cannot trust. Hence, most perpetrators (97.5 percent) involved in cybercrime reside off campus, whereas a few others who have accommodation in students' hostels still have another accommodation off campus to serve as a hideout for their activities (Table 1). Majority (80 percent) of them were Christians, because the data were collected in a university located in the Southwest, whereas the rest were Muslims. Religion is usually omitted in important statistics such as Census and Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data due to its political dimension in Nigeria. It has, however, been documented that Christianity is the dominant religion in the South, whereas Islam dominates in the North.^19–23 Similarly, almost all the informants were men (95 percent). About 55 percent have spent 5–7 years, whereas 35 percent have spent 2–4 years in the crime (Table 1). The perpetrators are young people with high technical knowledge and active imagination. They are manipulative and are bold in risk taking while they have no regard for the law. These are similar to cybercriminals' characteristics across the globe.²⁴

Table 1.

SocioDemographic Characteristics of Respondents

	Frequency (N=40)	Percentages
Age of respondents
<22 years	2	5.0
22–25 years	20	50.0
26–29 years	16	40.0
29 years	2	5.0
Level of education
Undergraduate	38	95.0
Postgraduate	2	5.0
Residence
Off campus accommodation	39	97.5
Students hostel	7	17.5^a
Sex
Male	38	95.0
Female	2	5.0
Religion
Christianity	32	80.0
Islam	8	20.0
Traditional religion	0	0.0
Number of years spent in cybercrime
<2 years	1	2.5
2–4 years	14	35.0
5–7 years	22	55.0
>7 years	3	7.5
Parents' level of education
No formal education	1	2.5
Primary school completed	2	5.0
Secondary school completed	2	5.0
OND/NCE	2	5.0
Technical education	1	2.5
University graduate	32	80.0
Parents' Occupation
Civil servant	20	50.0
Self employment	16	40.0
Clergymen	4	10.0
Parents' Marital Status
Single parent/separated	20	50.0
Married/living together	20	50.0
Parents' knowledge of their children's involvement in cybercrime
Yes	2	5.0
No	38	95.0
Parents' monthly income
<25,000	8	20.0
25,000–30,000	29	72.5
31,000–35,000	2	5.0
>35,000	1	2.5

This proportion includes some of those who also have another accommodation off campus.

OND, Ordinary National Diploma; NCE, National Certificate of Education.

Majority (80.0 percent) of the perpetrators' parents had at least a first degree in the university, half (50 percent) were civil servants, and 40 percent were self employed. Again, half (50 percent) were either separated or single parents, half (50 percent) were still married and living together, whereas 95 percent of the informants' parents were not aware that their children were involved in the act. Finally, the incomes of majority (72.5 percent) of the informants' parents were between 25,000 and 30,000 Naira, which is low compared with their educational qualification (Table 1). This is in line with Central Intelligence Agency World Fact book (2007), which affirmed that 70 percent of Nigerians still live below poverty line.

Strategies employed by cybercrime perpetrators

The strategies employed by the perpetrators of cybercrime are numerous and highly dynamic depending on the situation and their target. These include the way they identify their victims, the use of ladies as collaborators, collaboration with security agents and bank officials, local and international networking, and the use of voodoo that is, traditional supernatural power. Most perpetrators of cybercrime were involved in on-line dating and buying and selling with fake identity. The ways they identify their victims include getting the bio-data of the victim to know if he/she is wealthy, making some business proposals to the victims to know if he likes to make money, bombing mails and seeing those who will respond, and sending beautiful fake pictures to the victims for dating as the true person. Women also do assist their boyfriends when he is using a female identity and there is a need to interact with the victim on phone. Some key informants expressed;

I get pictures of the white people. I get these pictures because the whites do not trust the black. I have two identities, one male and the other female. When I am using the male Identity, I am using it against the female and vice versa. (Key Informant 24 years, Male, Christian)

Mostly those whites are also greedy, they like money. My last victim gave out a laptop to sell, he wanted to sell the laptops for 1,500 dollars but I told him I will double the money for him. He sent the laptop to me, and I sent his confirmation which he was unable to clear. (Key Informant, 26 years, Male, Christian)

Collaborations with security agents and financial and poster institutions staff

Security agents are protective agents, but when the same agents become accomplices, it becomes a source of worries. The criminals are able to tap the opportunity to further exploit the gullible individuals. The perpetrators, therefore, continue in the act because of the corrupt nature of the law enforcement agents in Nigeria. The informants describe Nigerian police as accomplices. Some police officers and EFCC officers serve as key informants in providing useful information that could prevent their possible arrest. The bank officials also actively cooperate with the perpetrators in making the clearing of any money realized, whereas the postal agents help in clearing goods in exchange for compensation from the perpetrators. An informant noted;

Police, EFCC, SSS, bank officials and postal and courier agents in this part of Nigeria are all aiding us. In Lagos one might find it difficult especially with EFCC. But it all boils down to settlement with money. (Key Informant, 26 years, Male, Christian)

Local and international networking among the perpetrators

Cybercrime perpetrators are very dynamic, as the crime is difficult to commit alone. They, therefore, need both local and international collaborators to make their crime easy. All the key informants expressed that they have both local and international networking with friends across different countries. Local networking is necessary to acquire more knowledge and skills, especially when dealing with difficult victims; whereas the international networking is useful for easy clearing of checks and goods. A key informant noted;

We have friends both locally and internationally. There are some of us involved in a deal that we call “classified.” It may involve buying and selling, with the issuing of fake cashier cheques to your Mugun (a fool to be duped). But the processing fees of sending cheque from Nigeria is very costly. Most perpetrators now have white men as their dispatcher in exchange for pay. The whites are always the ones that sign the cheques and send it out. Some business can also be transferred to them for easy clearing in exchange for money. (Key Informant, 24 years, Male, Christian)

Use of “voodoo” in cybercrime

Voodoo refers to the use of traditional charms and mystical powers to achieve the desired goals and is related to traditional religion. Most Nigerians believe in supernatural power for success in many endeavors. This belief has been hijacked by crime perpetrators in Nigeria. The use of voodoo and charms for spiritual protection and to charm potential victims is, therefore, common among the Yahoo boys in Nigeria. This is referred to as “Yahoo Plus” among the cybercriminals. Another level of this is referred to as “Yahoo Plus Plus,” which is at a higher level than “Yahoo Plus.” “Yahoo Plus Plus” involves the use of human parts and may need kidnapping other human beings for rituals, which is not necessary in “Yahoo Plus.” In Yahoo Plus Plus, the use of things such as their finger nails, rings, carrying of corpses, making incision on their body, sleeping in the cemetery, citing of incantation, using of their fingers for rituals, and having sex with ghosts are common. A few of the informants, however, denied that they use voodoo in the business, whereas others affirmed their use of voodoo. An informant affirmed;

The Voodoo thing exists for real, I have used it but I have stopped because of the fear of repercussion. With the aid of Voodoo the money comes faster. I have friends that still use it, they can collect money twice or thrice a week and it helps. I used the ring when I did mine, we have incisions. I have a friend that uses a Calabash filled with black substance; he hides it in his room and says incantations. (Key Informant, 25 years, Male, Christian)

Discussion

This study investigates the strategies employed by cybercriminals referred to as “Yahoo boys” in Nigeria. This is important, as it has been a neglected area that is of great importance in finding lasting solutions to the problem in Nigeria and at the global level.

The study affirmed that higher institutions of learning in Nigeria serve as the breeding grounds for cybercriminals. This is in line with the findings of earlier scholars.^2,11 This may be because of the skills involved in perpetrating the crime and the level of education required. In Nigeria, most students have access to computers at the postsecondary education level. Since the knowledge of computers is a precondition for involvement in cybercrime, most students below this level of education could not be involved in the crime. The situation may change in the future, as there is improvement in accessibility to computers at primary and secondary school levels. At present, there is a need to collaborate with the management of higher institutions in Nigeria in the effort to combat the crime, as the problem is domiciled at this level. Efforts could also be geared toward the inclusion of cybercrime issues in the curriculum at this level of education as a way of re-orientating Nigerian youths who are involved and may be involved in the crime.

Identification of cybercriminals may be easy in face-to-face interactions because of their sub-cultures and language that could be easily recognized. When the interaction is online, it becomes difficult for potential victims to identify the cybercriminals. This problem is complicated by the fact that the perpetrators conceal their strategies even from their colleagues who could abuse the strategy and make it ineffective. Hence, the strategies identified in this study may not be exhaustive. However, certain tips that could help the potential victims to identify the perpetrators include making a proposal of a business with excessive profit that is attractive but not realistic within the context of the global and the local economy and online dating which involves exchange of money or goods for love.

The skills employed in cybercrime is demanding and challenging. The perpetrators, therefore, network both locally and internationally. It is true that some countries are notorious in various kinds of crime, and people from developed countries suspect mails and business advances from such countries. This, however, cannot guarantee protection from the hands of the cybercrime perpetrators, as they collaborate across different countries. The victims could be asked to ship goods or send money meant for a perpetrator in Nigeria to their collaborator in other European countries before such money or goods is finally shipped to Nigeria while the bounty is shared based on their agreement.

The use of voodoo was acclaimed to yield positive results for the perpetrators despite the fact that this cannot be scientifically proved. If this is true, the traditional priests consulted by the cybercrime perpetrators should be considered as accomplices and be made to face the consequences of the law. Also, the laws governing the banking operations and postal agencies and different types of speed post need to be reviewed to check illegal operations in the light of the new revelations, whereas officers of these organizations who collaborate with cybercriminals should be made to face the consequences of the law. However, one of the major problems confronting Nigeria is initiating change in our laws in line with change in the social and political environments. Laws made in antiquity were still in operation in Nigeria. There is, therefore, the need to take a bold step in this direction if cybercrime is to be appropriately combated.

Finally, the law enforcement agents in Nigeria need reorganization. It is no longer strange to hear that security agents aid and abet criminal activities. Some officers in the police force and EFCC have been affirmed by the perpetrators as aiding and abetting their criminal activities. Any of these corrupt officers need to be made to face the consequences of the law and flushed out of the system.

Conclusion

Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that cybercrime has become endemic among Nigerian youths and is taking different dimensions in defiling the government's efforts at eradicating the problem. Since cybercrime involves local and international collaboration, it requires the collaborative efforts of all the stakeholders to combat it; whereas Nigeria needs to look inward by addressing problems confronting the youths making them predisposed to various kinds of crime.

Footnotes

Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interest exists.

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