CYBERCRIME IN NIGERIA: SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE PREVENTION AND CONTROL
ABSTRACT: This study examined social factors affecting the prevention and control of cybercrime in Nigeria with particular reference to Awka South L.G.A. cybercrime can be seen as any computer-mediated activities which are either illegal or considered illicit by certain parties and which can be conducted through global electronic networks. The Differential Association theory, structural functionalism theory, and routine activity theory were reviewed in the study, while the differential association theory was adopted as the theoretical framework. The sample size of the study was 200 participants selected through a multi-stage sampling technique which involves the simple random sampling technique, while purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of IDI participants. The questionnaire schedule and In-Depth interview guide were the instruments used for data collection. The findings from the questionnaires were manually analyzed using frequency tables and simple percentage; qualitative data from the In-depth interviews were analyzed using manual content analysis, while the study hypotheses were tested using Chi-square () inferential statistic. The findings indicated that younger persons are more likely to become victims of cybercrime than the older ones in Awka South LGA. Also that persons with higher levels of education are not less likely to become victims of cybercrime than persons with low levels of education in Awka South LGA. The researcher recommended the government should immediately enact a comprehensive law on cybercrime. For legislation on cybercrime to be effective and efficient when enacted, there is a need for the government to empower graduates by providing employment. Education is the most vital weapon for literacy, as such seminars and workshops should be organized from time to time with an emphasis on cyber safety so that the individuals will learn to keep their personal information safe and youth will flee cybercrime.
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
The development of the internet and the widened access to computer technology has created new opportunities for work and business activities, as well as those who engage in illegal activities. The rise of technology and online communication has not only produced a dramatic increase in the incidence of criminal activities but has also resulted in the emergence of what appears to be a new variety of criminal activities. Both the increase in the incidence of criminal activities and the possible emergence of new varieties of criminal activity pose challenges for legal systems, as well as for law enforcement (Brenner, 2007). While technological advancements have produced radical shifts in the ability to reproduce, distribute, control, and publish information, the internet, in particular, has radically changed the economics and ease of reproduction (Longe and Chiemeke, 2008).
Shinder (2002), defines cyber crime as any criminal offenses committed using the internet or another computer network as a component of the crime. Cybercrimes are offenses that are committed against individuals or groups of individuals with a criminal motive to internationally harm the reputation of the victim or cause physical or mental harm to the victim directly or indirectly using modern telecommunication networks such as the internet and mobile phones. Such crimes may threaten the nation’s security and financial health (Akogwu, 2012).
The youths in every society are of great importance and concern to that society because they are looked upon as the leaders of tomorrow. Olaide and Adewole (2004), observed that a sizeable number of criminals in Nigeria fall within the youthful age. The youths at present have discovered different ways of using the internet in doing different types of criminal activities and these age brackets are usually found in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Nigeria is not the only nation where cybercrimes are being perpetrated (Ayo 2010). The incident can rightly be said to be on the increase in the country due to lack of security awareness and under reportage respectively. Although some people’s level of knowledge of the net is observable just for chatting with their friends and maybe get information therefrom, most of them may not be in the position to protect their data or information and computer from malicious programmers (Akogwu, 2012).
According to Ayo (2010) in most Nigeria tertiary institutions, various forms of crimes are being witnessed ranging from examination malpractices, falsification of admission, rape, robbery and stealing, sexual abuse, assault, cultism amongst others. But in recent times cybercrime, a new form of crime now exists in our tertiary institutions which is denting and drilling holes in the economy of the nation. It is also leading to the erosion of confidence in genuine Nigerian commercial credibility and today many western countries with France taking the lead have moved to deny. Nigerian businessmen and women who are legitimate the rewards of e-commerce (Ayo, 2010). France today requires web camera verification for most online business transactions from Nigeria. Studies that focus on cybercrime largely concentrate on situations in the western world forgetting that the nature of cybercrime is such that geographical and political boundaries are being rendered irrelevant. A person who has access to a computer and connected to the internet might be participating, attempting or planning any criminal act anywhere in the world (Kumar, 2003). Awe (2009), confirmed that computer attacks can be generated by criminals from anywhere in the world, and executed in other areas, irrespective of geographical location. And often these criminal activities can be faster, easier and more damaging with the use of the internet.
There is a fact that majority people nowadays only pursuit of friendship online for about maintaining existing friendships (Cocking, Hoven & Timmermans, 2012), but they’re also some groups of people that believe with new ‘friend’ or even new ‘relationship’ via online without investigate further detail or at least seeing each other face to face and simply agree with certain agreement which involved money or dignity. Internet love scammers is an individual commission of intentionally is to either destroy others property, personal integrity or life or steal other people’s valuable property and information (Mohamed, 2012). The mode of operations of scammers usually involved using fictitious identification, befriend lonely and desperate of love’s women and become their fake lover. Then, by the temple trust had been obtained in the relationship the love scammer start using thousands of reasons to make the victim transfer their money to the love scammer bank account. This transaction may occur several times to the victim until they felt suspicious or felt that was not the true love relationship. Koon and Yoong (2013) agreed the reason why most victims fall under this incident until lost a thousand ringgit or even more due to the characteristic of internet love scammers which show a good sense, character, and will. Getting to know the personality of scammers, most of them were using fake identity (Rege, 2009; Ephraim, 2013; Koon & Yoong, 2013). Koon and Yoong (2013) also added most of them substituted a western identity to attract Asian victims and vice versa and they can be male, female or youngsters too.
Studies have shown that the majority of the scammers arrested in Malaysia are mostly African or Nigerian, however, most of them working in teams (Nawawi, 2013). Knowing more about African, most of them come to Malaysia as foreign students. (Rege, 2009) mentioned the Nigerian scammers established their network and keep recruiting new members. Nigerian Scammers network train their members technical and social skills such as how to become sweet talkers, lure whisper and boast romantic trust. Scammer network members have also been thought several modus operandi or strategy and segregate their task start with collecting a thousand emails in identifying most relevant victims until they all manage to get the amount of money from the victim.
The contribution of the internet to the development of the nation has been marred by the evolution of new waves of crime (Taylor, 2007). According to Raph (2012), the internet has also become an environment where the most lucrative and safest crime thrives; cybercrime has become a global threat from Europe to America, Africa to Asia. Cybercrime has come as a surprise and a strange phenomenon that for now lives with us in Nigeria, with each passing day; we witness more and more alarming cases of cybercrimes in Nigeria, with each new case more shocking than the one before (Olabode, 2013).
Statement of Problem
The contribution of the internet to the development of the nation has been marred by the evolution of new waves of crime (Ola, 2008). The internet has also become an environment where the most lucrative and safest crime thrives. Cybercrime has become a global threat from Europe to America, Africa to Asia. Cybercrime has come as a surprise and a strange phenomenon that for now lives with us in Nigeria. With each passing day, we witness more and more alarming cases of cybercrimes in Nigeria, with each new case more shocking than the one before.
Waziri (2009) spoke about the dreadful level of corruption as being a threat to Vision 20:2020. Cybercrime is an obstacle that may shut the door of progress against the nation. This was why Aluko (2004) gave seventeen (17) ways of stopping financial corruption in Nigeria. One of these crimes according to him has to do with cybercrimes. The global village currently records increasing criminal behavior. News of cybercriminal activities continue to fill the pages of the newspaper, it is central to world news and has become a global problem. There is hardly a place where computers and internet facilities are found that cases of crime are not recorded. New modes of operation are developing as the Global System for Mobile-telecommunication (GSM) is now used for browsing. A lot of young people are common among the perpetrators of these criminal activities. They spend
hours browsing and sometimes stay awake all night to carry out their nefarious activities (Kumar, 2003). The people involved are mostly found within the ages of fifteen to thirty years. According to Erhabor (2008), cybercrimes are described as one of the fastest-growing criminal activities on the planet. He repeated the fact that it covers a large range of illegal activity including financial scams, computer hacking, downloading pornographic images from the internet, virus attacks, stalking and creating websites that promote hatred. In recent times, young students in the tertiary engage in the forgery of all kinds ranging from false admission paper to school fees receipts, certificates racketeering and examination malpractice that is,
accessing useful information during examinations through the handset and other electronic devices. Ajao (2008) said Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa are the top perpetrators of cybercrime in Africa. Nigeria is not spared from the heartache caused by cybercrimes.
According to Ayantokun (2006) Attempt to address cybercrime by various Law enforcement agencies such as; The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), The Nigerian Police, etc have not recorded much success in curtailing the rate at which Nigerian youths engage in cybercrime, there are no control measures put in place to curb cybercrime, because they aid and abate the perpetrators of cybercrime by collecting bribes and commissions from them, in exchange providing a haven for these criminals and keeping a close eye towards their activities. No governmental agency in Nigeria except the defunct National Electric Power Authority has been so severely criticized as the Nigerian Police for not living to its responsibilities and expectations (Igbinovia, 1982; Karimu, 1999). Also, such things as manpower shortages, lack of equipment, funds, etc. are problems that come to the police and limit their capacity to perform the task of cybercrime prevention and control effectively (Igbinovia, 2012; Karimu, 2009).
A study by Zero Tolerance (2006) indicates that cybercriminals are usually within the age of 18 and 30 years and they indulge in the crime to survive and have a taste of good life, due to the high rate of socio-economic problems such as; unemployment, poverty, political instability, etc prevalent in the society. The high rate of unemployment and poverty in the society has driven the youths in Nigeria, mostly tertiary school graduates to embark on different kinds of criminal activities, mostly cybercrime commonly known as yahoo-yahoo to make ends meet.
Another problem associated with the procedure of controlling cyber crimes is the inconsistencies involved in the information given out by the so-called witnesses when crimes are being investigated. Also, most citizens do not know what constitutes cybercrime and when it is been committed (Tanimu, 2006). The illiterate nature of most citizens about the legal and criminal code of its society poses a greater threat. Some just give information about a crime thinking that by doing so; they will be popular, given money for coming forth with’ vital information. With this, they say or do anything to act as if they were present when the crime occurred. Also at times when they report these crimes, they become the victims of police harassment for doing the right thing, and are most times detained, this has made citizens scared of reporting prevalent crimes in the society. This scenario drastically slows down the process of cybercrime control (Bola, 2009).
According to Okogie (2010), the inability of Nigeria to adequately prevent and control the alarming trend of cybercrime and its associate has for so many years set Nigeria at the bottom of the ladder of the corrupt nations of the world, which is based on some index set by the Transparency International (TI), an anti-corruption crusader group. If cybercrime is not checked, it can also lead to brain-drain and other socio-economic problem, it becomes a threat to the economic, political and social security of a nation and a major factor associated with underdevelopment; because it discourages both local and foreign investments, reduces the quality of life, destroys human and social capital, damaged relationship between citizens and the states, thus undermining democracy, rule of law and the ability of the country to promote development (Nebo, 2006). It is against the background of this study that the researcher decided to assess the social factors affecting the prevention and control of crime in Awka South Local Government Area.
Research Question
In the course of this study the following questions will be raised and answered;
- What are the causes of cybercrime in Awka South Local Government Area?
- What are the consequences of cybercrime in Awka South Local Government Area?
- What are the types of cybercrime in Awka South Local Government Area?
- What are the measures put in place to effectively control and prevent cybercrime in Awka South Local Government Area?
Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to examine the social factors affecting the prevention and control of cybercrime in Nigeria. The specific objectives include;
- To examine the causes of cybercrime in Awka South Local Government Area.
- To determine the consequences of cybercrime and in Awka South Local Government Area.
- To find out the types of cybercrime in Awka South Local Government Area.
- To examine the measures put in place to effectively control and prevent cybercrime in Awka South Local Government Area.
Significance of the Study
There are many concrete reasons for conducting the reason for researching social factors affecting the prevention and control of cybercrime in Nigeria and many potential uses for the information generated. Thus the significance of this study cannot be overemphasized.
Theoretically, the study will add to the existing literature on factors affecting the prevention and control of cybercrime in Nigeria. This will be very useful to students and other researchers that will in future investigate or do further studies on it.
Practically, this study will be of help to the Government of Awka South Local government and other level of Government, the study will identify the factors affecting the prevention and control of cybercrime in Nigeria. The study will also provide recommend measures to tackle those factors affecting the prevention and control of cybercrime in Nigeria to ensure a crime-free environment.
Definition of terms
In this section, the researcher defined terms and concept that were present and relevant to the study;
Bribe: This can be referred to as incentives usually money given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to dishonesty.
Crime: is an offense, which goes beyond the personal and into the public sphere, breaking prohibitory rules or laws, to which legitimate punishments or sanctions are attached, and which requires the intervention of a public authority.
Cybercrime: this can be defined as all unlawful activities involving computers and the internet.
EFFC: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. A statutory organization charged with the responsibility to fight and control financial related crimes.
Internet: this is a global network which unites millions of computer located in different countries and opens broad opportunities to obtain and exchange information but it is now been used for criminal purposes due to the economic factors.
Society: this refers to a long-standing group of people sharing cultural aspects such as language, dress, norms of behavior and artistic form.
Police: this refers to a civil force possessing the legal authority for law enforcement and maintaining public order.
Prevention: this can be defined as the anticipation of need, hazards, and risks that are likely to occur.
Security: this refers to the condition of not being threatened, especially physically, psychologically and financially.
Socio-economic: this can be defined as a combination of social and economic factors.
Unemployment: can be defined as the level of joblessness in an economy often measured as a percentage of the workforce.
Youth: this refers to that part of life following childhood; the period of existence preceding maturity.
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