61% of Nigeria’s Scammer’s Parents Know Their Children Scam and Are Ok With It
This Demonstrates the Deep Level of Social and Moral Corruption in Nigeria
Primary Category: Criminology
Authors:
• SCARS Editorial Team – Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.
• Portions from PM News
About This Article
The discovery that 61% of Nigeria’s scammer’s parents are aware that their children are scammers and their involvement in scams and cybercrime, specifically “Yahoo Yahoo” (internet fraud), exposes a troubling issue of familial complicity.
Many parents may even benefit financially from these illegal activities, raising ethical and legal concerns about their role as accessories after the fact, as outlined in Section 10 of Nigeria’s Criminal Code.
This complicity perpetuates cybercrime, damaging Nigeria’s reputation on a global scale.
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) highlights the broader societal and international impact of these crimes and stresses the need for comprehensive solutions, including collaboration between agencies. Without concerted action, the future of Nigeria’s youth, families, and its standing in the global community faces significant risks.
61% of Nigerian Parents of Scammers are Aware of Their Children’s Involvement in ‘Yahoo, Yahoo’ Online Scamming
The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said its investigation has revealed that most of the parents of suspects arrested for involvement in cybercrimes, otherwise known as Yahoo Yahoo are aware of their children’s involvement in the crime.
According to the Nigerian Criminal Code: Section 10 of the Criminal Code Act in Nigeria. Accessories after the fact
A person who receives or assists another who is, to his knowledge, guilty of an offence, in order to enable him to escape punishment, is said to become an accessory after the fact to the offence.
Acting EFCC Zonal Director, Lagos Zonal Command of the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE1 Michael T. Wetkaz revealed this on Friday September 13th, 2024, during a visit to his office by the Sector Commander, FRSC, Lagos State Sector Command, Corps Commander Patrick Davou.
While soliciting for collaboration of FRSC in the work of fighting fraudulent activities, Wetkaz used the opportunity to decry the disturbing involvement of youths in cybercrimes.
He said: “In the EFCC, our mandate is very wide. Recently, we keep hearing that it is just “Yahoo Yahoo” cases that the EFCC is fighting. But you will be surprised at the damage it does to the country in the comity of nations.
“Now, perpetrators of internet fraud even use people for rituals and have also graduated to doing sextortion. This has become an international disaster, as suicide seems to be the option for the victims abroad.
“But we have recorded good progress in that regard so much so that the international community had to ensure our flags were flown in one of their events”
Continuing, he said: “The reputational damage of cybercrimes is a lot and we are trying to mitigate this and find ways to stop it.”
According to him, the EFCC recently investigated some cases involving 100 people over ‘yahoo yahoo’ scamming.
He added: “We had to do an analysis to diagnose the cause of yahoo yahoo. Statistics showed that 61 percent of their parents were aware; 64 percent were still staying with their parents; 62 percent were sponsoring their parents. So, who do we hold?”
He, therefore, advised that all hands must be on deck to stamp the menace out of our society, adding that “I want us to understand that the future is bleak, if our children pursue a life of yahoo yahoo.”
Wetkas also expressed his gratitude to Davou and his team and also requested the FRSC to offer its shoulders, more than ever before, to the EFCC to lean on, especially in the area of information sharing.
He said: “We can see that you have a robust data base. I know that the FRSC has always been a step ahead with the use of technology. This is highly commendable.
“So, you can also assist us to query certain things and get more information that will be useful to our investigations. We have a lot of exhibit cars. We will therefore be collaborating more with your office.”
Speaking earlier, Davou acknowledged the vital role of the EFCC in checkmating the fraudulent activities of some citizens and foreigners alike.
While highlighting the mandate of the FRSC, which he said included manning the highways and reducing congestion on roads so as to ensure that the economic activities of the country are not affected, he explained that the FRSC had recently developed software to enhance its activities. Additionally, he disclosed the FRSC was willing to render technical aid for the Commission whenever it might be needed.
According to him, “We are saddled with a lot of responsibilities.
“We man the highways to ensure the safety of Nigerians and that properties are protected.
“We ensure our roads are motorable and we reduce congestion on our roads, so the economic activities of the country are not affected.
“We have now come up with an App that enables anyone to easily access information about our activities.
“Safety is a shared responsibility and we have collaborated well with the EFCC, hence our visit today.“
SCARS Institute Analysis
The broader social and reputational damage of this trend, as emphasized by the EFCC, poses a significant challenge for Nigeria both domestically and internationally. It suggests a need for more robust interventions that address both the legal and moral dimensions of these crimes. Moreover, collaboration between agencies like the EFCC and FRSC in sharing data and resources is critical in mitigating this issue. Without collective societal action, the future implications of this widespread involvement in cybercrime are dire, as emphasized by the EFCC leadership.
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Some of our articles discuss various aspects of victims. This is both about better understanding victims (the science of victimology) and their behaviors and psychology. This helps us to educate victims/survivors about why these crimes happened and to not blame themselves, better develop recovery programs, and to help victims avoid scams in the future. At times this may sound like blaming the victim, but it does not blame scam victims, we are simply explaining the hows and whys of the experience victims have.
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