In today's digital age,most Nigerian youths have become very inseparable with the internet, especially teenagers.Instead of them channeling their energy to something productive they use the internet to commit fraud and other cyber crimes.
Cyber fraud is any fraudulent activity that involves the use of the internet or digital technology to deceive, steal or scam individuals , business or government for financial gain or other benefits.
According to the statistia's figures for Nigeria in 2019,men made up over 98% of those convicted for cyber fraud (yahoo yahoo). Studies show that young male university students or recent graduates are the primary demographic behind a cyber fraud.Women are often involved in auxiliary roles like maintaining romantic chat, gathering information or facilitating payments.
The most common cyber crime in Nigeria is "Advance fee fraud" (e.g yahoo yahoo).
Yahoo boys operate using these platforms: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Dating sites (like tinder, Badoo e.t.c).
They operate and most of the time succeed by creating false identites for themselves,they pretend to be rich business men or women, widows or widowers, sugar daddies or mummies or foreign lovers(romance scam).They use stolen pictures,fake names,and then they build convincing online profiles on the platforms I listed above.
They build trust with the victims luring the victims into sending money,yahoo boys often use intermediaries causing "pickers or muled"