Zakariyya Adaramola
6 September 2008
Lagos — In Lagos, many of the so-called yahoo boys now do their 'yahoo yahoo' activities in the comfort of their homes, courtesy of internet services being offered by the fixed telephone operators in the country. Others go into partnerships of a sort with dubious cyber cafe operators and bank officials to carry out their nefarious activities in the full glare of the EFCC's bold message in its poster which reads:'Stop Cyber Crime, EFCC is watching You.'
Malam Nuhu Ribadu, former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), may have been removed from the anti-graft agency, but his name and the emblem in the posters of the agency he once headed, still dot most of the cyber cafes in the city of Lagos, where unarguably cyber crimes are committed.
Even beggars in Lagos know that nefarious activities are carried out in most of the cyber cafes as young, able boys and girls loiter around the buildings where cyber cafes operate as early as 8:00am. Weekly Trust also observed that these yahoo-yahoo fingers may not leave till 10 pm! That is in those cafes, whose owners do not operate night browsing. Officially, according to the EFCC rule, overnight browsing has been banned. But, as soon as Ribadu was removed from the EFCC, most cafes in the city resumed nocturnal browsing. According to finding, the cyber crimes, have been reduced to the barest minimum when Ribadu held sway.
Weekly Trust investigations around the cafes in the city revealed that the so called yahoo yahoo boys have been joined by the operators of the cafes in the sharing of their 'loot'. It was gathered that most operators signed agreement with the fraudsters to allow the yahoo boys free reign and not expose them to law enforcement agencies when carrying out their activities. The collaboration, our correspondent, gathered resurfaced as soon the former EFCC boss, Ribadu, left the commission. A cyber café owner, who has his business around Egbeda area of the Lagos metropolis, admitted that some café operators are now collaborating with some fraudsters to dupe unsuspecting members of the public and foreigners of their money.
The café owner, who pleaded for anonymity, said he began to notice the resurgence in the activities of the yahoo boys when the Federal Government replaced Ribadu. "Yes, it is true the yahoo boys activities are now increasing again after it had gone some three years ago. I began to notice the return of the yahoo boys when the government replaced Ribadu. You know the commission has not been very effective when Ribadu left. During the time of Ribadu, all cyber cafe owners or operators are forced to monitor all what their customers (those who browse) do. Some of us then even apprehended some bad boys and handed them over to the police. But now, it is different cyber crimes are on the increase again," he said.
Apart from the return of overnight browsing, one other thing, which hitherto was not allowed in the cyber cafes but is now allowed is the use of personal laptop computers by the customers. Weekly Trust gathered that most cafes are now allowing individuals to use their laptops to browse in cafes. This the yahoo boys have also capitalized on to carry out their activities unhindered. With laptops, the boys would able to undertake whatever scam they want to send across without any interference from other café users whatsoever. It also afforded them the illegal opportunity to have their activities free of monitoring by any eagle eye.
One other thing the EFCC under Nuhu Ribadu mandated the cafe owners to do was to open a register of sort to get the details of all their customers or would-be customers. Weekly Trust also gathered that that has been dispensed with, as they say, 'business has now been as usual.' Our correspondent gathered that even the new cafes opening for business are ignorant or claiming to be ignorant of the regulations of the EFCC.
But apart from the café owners' collaboration with the fraudsters, many of the cyber fraud perpetrators are also caring out illegal trade right from the comfort of their rooms at home or in hotels. Weekly Trust checks revealed that those who have stayed long in the business, especially those who were literarily chased away by the EFCC, are now operating unhindered, courtesy of the internet services being rendered by Starcomms, Zoom mobile, Visafone, Muiltlinks and other telephone operators in the business.
With laptops or desktops, all the yahoo boys need is to sign up with the internet service of one of the telephone operators and as Olu Maintain sang, it would be 'dollar, dollar, Euro, Euro.' At one of the offices of the telephone operators in Ikeja Wednesday, our correspondent met hundreds of youths, mostly boys of between 15 and 25 years lining up to have one thing or the other done on their computers. It was gathered that this has always been a daily affair.
But how do the fraudsters cash their loot since there is law which forbids transfer of huge funds either within the country, or from any country to Nigeria? Weekly Trust learnt that the so called yahoo boys get their loot with the help of some corrupt bank officials. A banker told Weekly Trust that some of the banks open special accounts for the boys. It is those accounts they use to get their loots with active collaboration of the bank officials. It also gathered they share the loot with the officials on percentage basis or as agreed by both parties.
Apart from the EFCC, the legislative arm has joined in combating this crime. Just on Tuesday, in Abuja, the Anti-Money Laundering and Cyber Crime Coalition at the National Assembly held a meeting with some EFCC and bank officials and some computer professionals on the need to intensify the fight against cyber crimes and money laundering in the country. The coordinator of the group, Mr. Bassey Etim, said the nation cannot continue to tolerate unscrupulous Nigerians engaging in economic sabotage. Etim said some Nigerians have continued to collaborate with commercial banks to embark on illegal transfer of funds in and outside the country at the expense of the dwindling economy.
He said: "The problem of economic and widespread internet fraud in the country was as result of the absence of enabling legislation to properly spell out punishment for offenders and as well ensure implementation." He said bankers shall be working with security agencies backed by a legislative framework that will curtail money laundering and the illegal movement of funds within and outside the country, adding that "there must be a parameter to measure the success recorded in the new arrangement between the public and private sectors."
The situation as regards cyber crime is too bad to be left un-attended to as said by Etim. In 2007 alone, $240 million was lost to fraudsters. The amount, according to a Lagos-based IT security firm, was a $40 million increase over reported losses in 2006.
Disclosing this in Lagos recently, the Managing Director of Global InfoSwift, Mr. Solomon Edun, said theft and other fraudulent practices being committed online is increasing by the day in Nigeria.
According to Edun, Nigeria is the third of the top 10 countries, which are highly susceptible to fraudulent attacks through electronic mails and webpages. He said the statistics from Internet Crime Complaint Center highlights an ever-increasing concern around the nature and dynamics the fraudulent attacks are taking place. He said the financial sector continues to be the most targeted sector as 91.7 per cent of all attacks recorded in December last year only, adding that this trend will continue if necessary steps are not urgently taken.
His words: "According to 2007 Internet Crime Report, Internet Crime resulted in nearly $240 million in reported losses in 2007, a $40 million increase over reported losses in 2006.
"As financial institutions in Nigeria are emerging, complex IT infrastructures and merging their products and services online, their vulnerability to theft, and intellectual property theft is increasing.
"The retrieval of consumers' personal identity data and financial account credentials is often achieved by stealing credentials directly using key-logging mechanisms and phisher-controlled proxies or by misdirecting users to non-authentic websites."
He advised banks to create information security awareness programs and campaigns on behalf of their customers. "The goal of awareness campaign is crucial to increase the level of security awareness of the banking customers and encourage electronic interactions amongst the banks in Nigeria ", he said.
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