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West African Online Scammers Now Train at 'Hustle Kingdoms'

West Africa is witnessing an increase in digital frauds as more people are trained in the practice at "hustle kingdoms", write Suleman Lazarus, Visiting Fellow, London School of Economics, and Mark Button, Professor of Security and Fraud at the University of Portsmouth for The Conversation.

The informal "academies" operate online and offline, Lazarus and Button wrote.

"These academies, once local training hubs, have evolved into global threats," revealing that the scammers export their skills worldwide "fuelling more persistent and widespread fraud". The U.S. reportedly lost about US$50 billion to online scams in 2023 - "many of which are linked to West African fraudsters".

The authors recommend urgent collaboration between local and global stakeholders to tackle the growing threat.

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