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The Challenges of Cybercrime in Nigeria
The Challenges of Cybercrime in Nigeria
1
Onuora, A. C., 2 Uche, D. C., 3 Ogbunude, F. O., 4 Uwazuruike, F. O.
1
[email protected], 2 [email protected],
3
[email protected], 4 [email protected]
1,2,3,4
Department of Computer Science,
Abstract
Cybercrime involves using computers and Internet by individuals to commit crime. Cyber
terrorism, identity theft and spam are identified as types of cybercrimes. The study identified
some of the causes of cybercrimes to include urbanization, unemployment and weak
implementation of cybercrime laws. The effects of cybercrimes on organizations, the society
and the country in general include reducing the competitive edge of organizations, waste of
production time and damage to the image of the country. With Nigeria venturing into
cashless society, there is a need for cybercrimes menace to be minimized if not completely
eradicated. This paper x-rayed various types of cybercrimes and what motivate individuals
into indulging in such crimes. Firms should ensure that their IT infrastructures like Networks
and computer systems are properly secured. Government should ensure that cybercrime laws
are formulated and strictly adhered to and individuals should observe simple rules by
ensuring antivirus protection on their computer systems.
1.0 Introduction
The concept of cybercrime is historic and dates back with the advent of information and
communication technology (Legislative and Government Relations Unit, 2015). Massive
digitalization and unprecedented interconnectivity provided by the internet has been a
windfall to people from all sphere of life including students, lecturers, doctors, architects,
teachers, lawyers, businessmen and criminals.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems are now as basic to our lives as
water and electricity. Many individuals, corporate organizations and government agencies
depend on ICT and computer networks to perform simple as well as complex tasks – from
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AIPFU Journal of School of Sciences (AJSS) Volume 1–Issue 2, 6-11, 2017, ISSN:-0794–8646-X
social networking and research to business and commerce. However, the cyberspace is
increasingly becoming vulnerable as many businesses, agencies and individuals are being
swindled by cyber criminals not only within the country but around the world.
Cybercrime, as most people are already aware, refers to those criminal acts such as identity
theft and bank frauds facilitated through the use of the internet. But as most Nigerians also
know, to our collective shame, our country is often cited as a breeding ground for many of
these nefarious practices because of the activities of some of our citizens. In the last few
years, many criminal elements in Nigeria have been using these modern telecommunication
networks such as the internet and mobile phones to commit all manner of crimes that portrays
a bad image for the nation globally. Such crimes may threaten a nation‘s security and
financial health. Cybercrime can simply be said to be a crime carried out with the aid of
Information and communication technology (ICT) tools.
Indeed, there is an upsurge of cybercrime in Nigeria. The country is ranked third in global
internet crime after the United States of America and United Kingdom while 7.5 per cent of
the world‘s hackers are said to be Nigerians (Thisday, 2016). Committed mostly by the
young, often called ―Yahoo‖ boys, a precursor of the infamous ‗419‘ email scammers, the
fraudsters are increasingly taking advantage of the rise in online transactions, electronic
shopping, e-commerce and the electronic messaging systems to engage in heinous crime.
According to Vladimir (2005) internet is a global network which unites millions of computer
located in different countries and open broad opportunities to obtain and exchange
information but it is now been used for criminal purposes due to the economic factors.
Nigeria a third world country is faced with so many economic challenges such as poverty,
corruption, unemployment amongst others, thereby, making this crime thrive.
However, it will be inconclusive to base it only on economic challenge as the cause of cyber-
crime in Nigeria. Internet is the most technologically advanced medium of interaction. It is
the information revolution that has turned the world into a global village.
As a result of this value, it is assumed that internet usage in Nigeria is growing due to
increasing availability of broadband connections and by observation, a decrease in
subscription fee. This observed increase of internet users in Nigeria has made the internet a
popular medium of communication and interaction as well as forum for online enterprises,
such as, internet service provision (ISP), cyber cafes and cybercrime which was described by
Ayantokun (2006) as all unlawful activities involving computer and internet.
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The internet services have reduced the world into a global village which makes it look as if
everybody is in the same place at a particular point in time, aside from the fact that the
internet has made communication to be easier and faster. A lot of other transactions are
consummated at the speed of lightening. Oyewole and Obeta (2002), state that the internet is
the inter connection of computer across the world thereby creating unlimited opportunities for
mankind. According to Ehimen and Bola (2009), the internet has created a geometric growth
and accelerated windows of opportunities for businesses and the removal of economic
barriers hitherto faced by nations of the world. Considering these limitless advantages of the
internet, one can easily subscribe to the fact that it is an important tool for national
development in a developing country like Nigeria.
McConnel (2000), argued that cybercrimes differ from most terrestrial crimes in four ways
which are: They are easy to learn; they require few resources relative to the potential damage
caused; they can be committed in a jurisdiction without being physically present and they are
often not clearly illegal. As such, cybercrime has become one of the major security issues for
law enforcement agencies and the world in general.
a. Unemployment:
Cybercrime can be associated with high rate of unemployment, harsh economic conditions,
and poor educational system. According to the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics,
Nigeria is saddled with almost 20 million unemployed people, with about 2 million new
entrants usually graduated into the dispirited realm of unemployment yearly. This clearly
reveals that a lot of youths are not employed. There is an adage that says ―an idle mind is the
devils workshop‖; as such most of our youth will use their time and knowledge as a platform
for their criminal activity, in order to improve their livelihood and to make ends meet.
Government and private sectors should create job opportunities for youths graduating from
higher institution yearly as to prevent them from engaging in cybercrime which usually
presents itself as a quick and lucrative enterprise.
b. Urbanization:
is looked at as the massive physical growth of urban areas as a result of rural migration in
search for a better life. This result in a heavy competition amongst the growing populace
more especially the elites, as such the elites find it lucrative to invest in the crime of cyber
because it is a business that requires less capital to invest and they are popularly called
―Yahoo Boys‖. Meke (2012), in his article ―Urbanization and cybercrime in Nigeria‖
reiterated urbanization as one of the major causes of cybercrime in Nigeria and Urbanization
will be beneficial if and only if good jobs can be created in the cities where population
growth is increasing, in his article, he emphasized that urbanization without crime is really
impossible. As such the elites amongst them find it lucrative to invest in the cybercrime
because it is a business that requires less capital.
c. Weak Implementation of Cyber Crime Laws and Inadequate Equipped Law Agencies:
The Nigerian legislation must implement strict laws regarding cyber criminals and when
criminal offences occur, perpetrators must be punished for the crime they‘ve committed
because cybercrime reduces the nation‘s competitive edge, failure to prosecute, cyber
criminals, can take advantage of the weak gaps in the existing penal proceedings. Weak /
fragile laws regarding cyber criminals exist in Nigeria, unlike in the real world were
criminals such as armed robbers are treated with maximum penalties. Unfortunate the nation
is not well equipped with sophisticated hardware to track down the virtual forensic criminals.
Laura (2012) stated that ―African countries have been criticized for dealing inadequately with
cybercrime as their law enforcement agencies are inadequately equipped in terms of
personnel, intelligence and infrastructure, and the private sector is also lagging behind in
curbing cybercrime‖ Nigeria is not an exception to this rule. Furthermore, it is therefore
paramount that the nation‘s legislation should ensure proper implementation of laws against
cybercrime where cyber criminals are prosecuted and convicted if found guilty.
Youths are mirrors of the society, but it is quite unfortunate how parents neglect their rightful
duties. Meke (2012) remarked that today many parents transmits crime values to their wards,
via socialization as if it a socio cultural values which ought to be transmitted to the younger
generation. In addition, the high level of Cybercrimes patronage in Nigeria is one of the
reasons why the crimes are seen as a norm in our society. No thanks to OluMaintain‘s
―yahoozee‖ album, D‘banj‘s ―Mobolowon‖, and Kelly Handsome‘s Maga don pay" and a
host of others in the entertainment and fashion industries who label their designs yahoo –
shirts, signifying the style and taste of ‗young money bags‘ with high taste and preference for
expensive clothes and accessories. Imagine a situation where the child supplies the father
with vital information to wreck individual‘s banks account using the computer system, while
the mother impersonates the account holder/owner at the bank. If this culture is imbibed
among the younger generations most of them will see no wrong in cybercrime practices.
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Maitanmi and Ogunlere (2013), outlined the various forms of cybercrime exhibited in
Nigeria; they include;
3.1 Yahoo Attack: Also called 419 because section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code
has a law against such offenders. It is characterized by using e-mail addresses obtained from
the Internet access points using e-mail address harvesting applications (web spiders or e-mail
extractor). These tools can automatically retrieve e-mail addresses from web pages. Nigerian
fraud letters join the warning of impersonation scam with a variation of an advance fee
technique in which an e-mail from Nigeria offers the recipient the chance to share a
percentage of a huge amount of money that the author, a self-proclaimed government official,
is trying to siphon out of the country.
3.2 Hacking: Here, Nigerian hackers are engaged in brainstorming sessions at trying to
break security codes for e- commerce, funds point cards and e-marketing product sites.
3.3 Software Piracy: Piracy involves the unlawful reproduction and sharing of
applications software, games, movies /videos and audios.
3.4 Pornography: Pornography covers all types‟ photography, films and videotapes with
varying degrees of sexual contents. The Internet has provided a free market for this crime as
so many pornographic sites are now all over the net. This is one of the most popular
cybercrimes in Nigerian academic institutions.
3.5 Credit Card or ATM Fraud: Credit card or ATM numbers can be stolen by hackers
when users type the credit card number into the Internet page of the seller for online
transaction or when withdrawing money using ATM card. The hackers can abuse this card by
impersonating the credit card holder.
3.6 Denial of Service Attack: This is an act by the fraudster who floods the bandwidth of
the victim‘s system or fills his e-mail inbox with junk mails depriving him of the services he
is entitled to access or supply.
3.7 Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Crime: IRC servers have chat rooms in which people
from anywhere in the world can come together and chat with each other. Criminals use it for
meeting co-conspirators. Hackers use it for discussing their exploits and sharing the
techniques.
3.8 Virus Dissemination: A virus is a computer program that infects files, frequently
executable programs, by inserting a duplication of itself into the file. There are different types
of virus and each type requires human participation (usually unaware) of their spread.
3.9 Phishing: Phishing refers to cloning product and e-commerce web pages in order to
dupe unsuspecting users. This is a technologically advanced scam that often uses
spontaneous mails to trick people into disclosing their financial and/or personal data.
3.10 Cyber Plagiarism: This is the act of stealing peoples‟ ideas through the Internet
public domains. This is very common in academic institutions as students and lecturers alike
use it to steal other people‘s ideas and publish them as their own original work.
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3.11 Spoofing: To have one computer on a network to act like another computer, usually
one with exceptional access rights, so as to gain access to the other systems on the network.
3.12 Cyber Stalking: The fraudster follows the victim by distributing mails and entering
the chat rooms frequently.
3.13 Cyber Defamation: The fraudster sends e-mails containing defamatory content to
people related to the victim or posts it on a website.
3.14 Salami Attack: Salami assaults are flamboyant economic scams or exploits against
confidentiality by comprehensive data gathering.
3.15 Cyber Terrorism: According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, cyber
terrorism is any premeditated, politically motivated attack against information, computer
systems, computer programs, and data which results in violence against non-combatant
targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents (searchsecurity.techtarget.com [10].
3.16 Others: Other cybercrimes not mentioned above are;
f. Electronic signature
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The internet creates unlimited opportunities for commercial, social and educational activities.
However, it has introduced its own peculiar risk that poses danger to the economy. The
danger could affect many sectors of the society and put the development of the country into
peril. Some of these possible adverse effects could include the destruction of the country‘s
image both at home and abroad, insecurity of both life and properties, fear of doing business
with Nigerian‘s citizen, economic loss of spending substantial amount of money on the
prevention and control of cyber crime amongst others.The draft local legislation on electronic
crimes, telecommunications and postal offences decree of 1995 define cybercrime as:
… Any person who, inter alia, engages in computer fraud or does anything to fake
payments, whether or not the payment is credited to the account of an operator or the
account of the subscriber, is guilty of an offence.
At the 10th U.N conference on the punishment of offenders, cybercrime was broken into two
categories and thus defined as:
Computer crime, or cybercrime, is any crime that involves a computer and a network. The
computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target. Net
crime is criminal exploitation of the Internet, inherently a cybercrime. Cybercrime uses the
unique features of the Net - sending of e-mail in seconds, speedy publication/ dissemination
of information through the web to anyone on the planet. Computer attacks can be generated
by criminals from anywhere in the world, and executed in other areas, irrespective of
geographical location. Often, these criminal activities can be faster, easier and more
damaging with the use of the Internet.
All crimes imaginable offline that can be achieved with the use of computer
networks as a tool
Threats to lives and properties
Propaganda
Theft of information (identity & credit card theft)
The Nigerian Situation in relation to cyber activities concentrate efforts and attention on E-
government services, payment platform for e-Commerce, ATM Machines, Electronic
Activities of the NSE, Cashless banking services and Nigerian Electronic Identification
system which include among others, the INEC card reader system.
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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reported in 2015 that 70 per cent of attempted or
successful fraud/forgery cases in the Nigerian banking system were perpetrated via the
electronic channels. Between 2000 and 2013, banks in the country lost N159 billion to
electronic frauds and cybercrime. In 2014, bank customers lost about N6 billion in Nigeria
while in South Africa, the loss amounted to about N8 billion. Indeed, security experts said
during the 2016 Cybersecurity Awareness Month in Lagos that financial losses to cybercrime
may rise to $6 trillion globally by 2021 (Thisday, 2016).
Earlier this year, Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communications, spoke about the rate of cyber
related offences such as fraudulent financial transactions and child kidnapping, facilitated
through internet communications has increased in recent years. ―If African leaders failed to
address this threat, there will be negative impacts on economic growth, foreign investment
and security,‖ said Shittu. ―An effective response to cybercrimes requires a robust network
security including appropriate network architecture and software, use of encryption, data
protection legislation, information security standards and other tools of threat protection and
detection.‖
In 2015, the Cybercrimes Act was passed into law to address the challenges. The law
criminalizes a variety of offences – from ATM card skimming to identity theft. It imposes,
for instance, seven years imprisonment for offenders of all kinds and additional seven years
for online crimes that result in physical harm, and life imprisonment for those that lead to
death. But like almost every law in the country, there is the problem of enforcement. The
―yahoo boys‖ still daily throng cybercafé premises to ―transact‖ their business with the
owners looking away. Yet the law criminalizes internet café owners who allow their premises
to be used to commit online crimes.
In response to the apparent failure of the law to address the growing challenge, the minister
canvassed the need to improve the capacity of relevant ICT and cyberspace stakeholders for
the training and support of cyber security officials and the sharing of cyber security best
practice from across the globe. These are in addition to building the capacity of local law
enforcement. The time to do that is now.
Since the loss suffered by consumers and investors creates serious credibility and image
problems, many countries develop strategies for preventing, detecting and containing the
threats associated with cybercrime. While it is acknowledged that greed is a major factor
motivating most victims, what about the image created for many who never respond?
How is the nation fighting cybercrime? It's interesting that there is quite a lot of talk about
fighting cybercrime. But what are the efforts? And how effective are they? Since there is an
awareness of the menace it poses to society, what have been the sincere and meaningful
efforts to fight cybercrime?
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Capacity Building
Compliance & Enforcement;
Public enlightenment
6.0 Challenges
There exist serious challenges against the efforts both at the National and International level
to fight against Cybercrime. However, Nigeria is confronted with challenges such as:
Lack of integration between the public and private sector in fighting against
cybercrime.
Inadequacy in the policy option that deals with the issues of surveillance.
7.0 Recommendations
There is to holistic approach to eradicating the menace of cybercrime in our society. As the
use of technology increases day by day, crime committed using technology also increases.
All stakeholders in Nigeria should put their heads together to minimizing cybercrime in
Nigeria. This will not only eliminated our country from the top three ranked country where
cybercrime flourish but will attract investors from Africa and the world at large thereby
improving our economy. This paper recommends the following measures to all stakeholders
in other to reduce cybercrime. They are
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Create a security-aware culture involving the public, the ISPs, cybercafés, Network
Providers, government, security agencies and Internet users
Parents should monitor closely and possibly manage their children‘s use of the
Internet in order to minimize cyber-crime cases.
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