Understanding the Crime-grid of the Nigerian-yahoo Boys

Abstract

The cybercrimes are known in Nigeria as ‘Yahoo Boys’. These syndicate of criminals recruit their members through an apprenticeship model (HK), employ various sophisticated means to get in touch with their potential victims and gain the trust of these unsuspecting victims (Bombing), the go ahead to devise means of requesting payments from their victims (Billing), disguise the receipt of these payments through opportunities provided by the information Technology especially the cyber architecture (Cyber-Laundering) and finally, they receive the illegal proceeds through third parties’ brokers (Cashout). The Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Report of 2022 revealed the total lost by victims on internet related crimes grew from $6.9 billion in 2021 to $10,2 billion in 2022 [1]. This revelation is an indication of the exponential growth of cyber-enabled criminal activities. The Nigerian ‘Yahoo Boys’ has been identified as one of the major contributors to these exponential growth of cyber enabled crimes [2]. The activities of the ‘Yahoo Boys’ are both inimical to their victims mostly foreigners because their actions lead some of them to suicide and do not contribute to the aggregate productivity of the Nigerian economy [3]. To combat the activities of these cyber criminals, ‘The Yahoo Boys’, it is imperative that the public and most importantly the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) are conversant with their crime grid. Understanding the crime grid of this ‘Yahoo Boys’ will enable proactive actions that will disrupt their activities.