Gone Too Soon: Nigerian youth killed during police raid over suspicions of Internet fraud

The other members of the house were arrested despite the death of their flatmate.

Ghanaian police have reportedly killed a young Nigerian man during a raid on their apartment in Ashongman Estate in Accra on Wednesday, March 21, 2018.

The deceased simply identified by his nickname, Aguero, was reportedly flee the house in a bid to avoid arrest when he was shot in the head and died on the spot.

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Instablog9ja reports that the house was being raided by the police on suspicions that the housemates are Internet fraudsters.

 

The other members of the house, were, however, arrested despite the death of their flatmate.

May their his soul rest in peace.

Why are more young Nigerians turning to Internet fraud?

Every other day there seems to be a story of Nigerian arrested or locked up for fraud or scam.

In the UK or in America, young Nigerians are going to jail for credit card scams and fraud. In August 2017, the police arrested a 22 year old Nigerian by the name of Abramson Abdullah Adekola for forgery.

Upper Michigan Source reported that the suspect was apprehended on Thursday, August 24, 2017, by police deputies.

 

The news site also disclosed that he is being "charged with receiving and concealing stolen property over $1,000 but less than $20,000", an offence expected to earn him five years behind bars.

Adekola was arrested following an investigation into an identity fraud and stolen property processing operation, the report says. This is one of many stories of Nigerians involved in fraud overseas.

According to The Independent, Nigerians and our neighbours in Ghana are responsible for almost half of the fraud in the UK.

 

“The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) estimates that Nigerians and Ghanaians swindle pounds 3.5bn from individuals, businesses and the Government, out of annual frauds totalling pounds 8bn,” writes the British news website. This report was published in 1997.

The 80s and 90s saw millions of Nigerians leave the country in search of a better life in Europe and in America. These two decades saw a huge increase in advanced fee fraud cases coming from Nigeria.

As part of a new class of migrants in the UK and America, a lot of Nigerians found themselves in the lower class of their host country.

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While some did menial jobs like cleaning and sweeping, others gravitated towards more illegal ways of making money.

As Internet fraud blossomed in Nigeria after the turn of the millennium, credit card scams would be on the rise in the Nigerian community overseas during this period.

Nigeria ranks 3rd in cyber crimes rating globally

Nigeria has made another unwanted record after it climbed up the ladder to the third position on the global cyber crimes ratings behind the United Kingdom and the United States of America in first and second place respectively.

This was revealed by the Nigerian Communications Commission [NCC], through its Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Umar Danbatta, at the ongoing 2017 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Lagos.

Prof. Danbatta, at a breakout session with the theme 'The Business of Cyber Law, Internet Policy and Privacy Rights', moderated by a former NBA President, Augustine Alegeh (SAN), said with the number of Internet users in Nigeria hitting 91.6 million, the number of cyber fraud cases traced to Nigerians have also increased drastically.

 

“About N127 billion was the estimated loss to cyber crime in Nigeria in 2015. Nigeria now ranks third in global internet crimes behind the UK and U.S.

A critical factor militating against Africa’s economic resurgence is the weakness of its institutions. Nigeria ranks 169 out of 199 on the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings; we are in a middle of a revolution and the rise of what we call the networked society.

The NCC stipulates the laws of engagement that will make the cyberspace safe and ensure the confidence as well as the safety of the cyberspace.

 

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There are benefits and risks of the use of cyberspace and both have to be properly managed.”

Though this record is quite unwanted, many still believe that most cyber crimes traced to Nigerians are actually being perpetrated by citizens of other African countries using Nigerian names.