Author(s): Felix Emeakpore Eboibi, Omozue Moses Ogorugba
Despite the objective of the Nigerian Cybercrimes Act 2015 to curtail cybercrimes, there seems to be no end in sight to Nigerian youths increasing involvement in domestic and international internet fraud. The scope of Nigerian youths' involvement has signalled a consistent and deliberate attack on foreign victims' finances and impact on the global economy. Furthermore, family ties of internet fraud perpetrators, the rise of cybercrime institutions and academies, lack of commensurate punishments have further worsened attempts to curtail internet fraud. In this regard, cybercrime investigators' implementation of the Nigerian Cybercrimes Act 2015 through resort to arrests on intelligence reports and consequent prosecutions has had little impact on Nigerian youths' perpetuation of internet fraud. Consequently, the paper seeks to answer the research questions thus: What are the reasons for Nigerian youths increasing involvement in internet fraud? What can be done to attack the roots of internet fraud instead of the symptoms? The paper, amongst others, makes a case for a rejuvenated effort by the Nigerian and foreign governments to facilitate an end to unemployment of youths, extending internet fraud investigations and prosecution to parents of perpetrators“super internet fraudsters”and those involved in the training of these perpetrators.