There is a troubling trend: internet fraudsters popularly known as “Yahoo Yahoo boys” are on the prowl — and menacingly so. As if the crime of defrauding people of their hard-earned money under false pretense is not already too much, their greed and insatiable quest for ostentatious lifestyle have pushed them into other dangerous and violent crimes.
Unsuspecting young ladies are being hoodwinked and used for money rituals; just as these band of criminals get involved in kidnapping, banditry and arms trafficking. For them, it is money by all means and any means whatsoever. No scruples!
This startling revelation was recently made by no less a personality than the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, who stated that the country has lost over $500 million in one year due to internet fraud.
He, however, noted that the activities of internet fraudsters had evolved beyond online scams, warning that they were now involved in more dangerous crimes, such as kidnapping, ritual killings, banditry and arms trafficking.
Last year alone, EFCC got over 11,000 petitions, investigated close to 9,000, and prosecuted nearly 5,000 cases despite the limited manpower of the agency. Even the criminals are becoming more daring and their politically exposed “colleagues“ are not relenting in attacking the EFCC. So, for Olukoyede and his team, it is battle from all fronts, including simulated media ‘war’.
Recently, there were criticisms that the EFCC was going after “Yahoo Yahoo boys”, but Olukoyede said such comments are coming from the perpetrators, their beneficiaries and few genuine people who do not understand the severity of the trending phase of Yahoo Yahoo crime.
‘It is no longer just about scamming people. They are now into kidnapping, banditry, and ritual killings. Some of our investigations have uncovered horrifying details, including cases where young female victims were used for rituals. If we don’t act decisively, in the next 10 years or so, we may not have a generation we can confidently hand over this country to’, Olukoyede said.
The EFCC helmsman stressed the need for the commission to be above board like Caesar’s wife. This, he said, accounted for EFCC’s commitment to internal cleansing; a policy that saw to the sacking of 27 commission staff members early this year over corruption allegations.
The EFCC chairman urged the media to play a more active role in shaping public perception of the commission’s work, advocating investigative journalism that highlights both corruption and the agency’s sterling achievements.
‘The media has always been a key player in the anti-corruption fight. In the early 2000s, before the EFCC was established, it was journalists who exposed many financial crimes. We need to return to that era where the media and law enforcement work together to protect the country’, the anti corruption czar said.
The nefarious activities of the “Yahoo Yahoo Boys” are inimical to the progress and development of this nation. Lives of youths — the most productive segment of the nation’s population — are cut short in their prime, apart from the international opprobrium visited on Nigerians abroad, where every carrier of the green passport is assumed to be a fraudster.
Perhaps, it is time to advocate more severe punishments, like life imprisonment, for anyone nvolved in internet fraud and other crimes like kidnapping, banditry, and ritual killings. It is not enough to confiscate the proceeds of crime and sentence them to years of imprisonment. Or, is it not said that desperate times call for desperate measures?
Nasiru is of the Journalists Against Corruption, based in Abuja
