Pandemic turns a Nigerian college student into a cybercriminal

The new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), which became a global epidemic in 2020, has become a global epidemic again due to the emergence of mutant strains such as Delta strain and Omicron strain, and in November 2021 the whole world The death toll has exceeded 5 million . As one of the aftermath of this pandemic, it is reported that 'university students are forced to turn into cyber criminals' in Nigeria, one of Africa's leading economic powers.

How the pandemic pulled Nigerian university students into cybercrime --The Record by Recorded Future
https://therecord.media/how-the-pandemic-pulled-nigerian-university-students-into-cybercrime/

The COVID-19 pandemic, which opened in 2020, has hit many fields such as economy, industry, and living, and the words 'before corona' and 'after corona' have taken root in Japan as well. Nigeria, located in western Africa, was also unable to escape the pandemic and decided to close the university indefinitely in 2020.

Kayode, who attended the University of Ilorin in Nigeria, says she attended a party with a large number of cybercriminals around November 2020. Of course, he knew the danger of attending this kind of party, but Kayode has been involved in cybercrime as a result of staying at home without any prospect since the university closed due to a pandemic. I did.

Kayode participated in the party with the ambition that he might have a connection with some big game, but at around 23:00, a conflict broke out between the two big players. Participants were surrounded by cutlery and men wielding broken bottles. Mr. Kayode confronted to protect himself, but he said that he was sick until he fainted by vomiting.

You might think of these episodes as one of the end of the fallen youth in the poorest countries. However, Nigeria is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 2020 fiscal year GDP ranking in the G20 has put # 26 is just below the, at the 2-position of Egypt is in Africa put a great difference that, Africa stamp of economic power. Ilorin University, where Kayode attends, is also known as one of the leading academic institutions in Japan, and Kayode himself serves as a director at high school, and his academic performance is A. He was an excellent student who was once selected as a representative of the school competition academic conference.

The direct cause of Kayode's drive was the COVID-19 pandemic, but the root cause lies in Nigeria's economic base. Nigeria is one of the world's leading oil-producing countries with the world's 15th largest oil production, and was once an oil-heavy economy in which crude oil sales revenue accounted for about 70% of total exports. In recent years, we have been nurturing industries in various fields in order to break away from oil, but after the Corona disaster, both oil production and exports decreased significantly based on the OPEC Plus production cut agreement, recording an inflation rate of 17%, which is large. I was hit.

What are the economic issues surrounding Nigeria? | Regional / Analysis Report --Overseas Business Information --JETRO
https://www.jetro.go.jp/biz/areareports/2021/e09d30525d710718.html

According to the latest World Bank report , the number of households below the poverty line is increasing despite being one of Africa's leading economic powers, and some people are beginning to say that they cannot even buy food.

Mr. Kayode, a single-mother family, also said that the remittance was reduced due to the decrease in income of his mother, so he learned graphic design and online marketing and searched for a job, but these challenges did not lead to income. It is cybercrime that Kayode got his hands on.

Kayode's first criminal act was a 'romance scam.' Romance scams create attractive profiles using photos of 'good looking people' collected on the Internet, letting the person who gets caught have a romantic feeling and send money, or apply for benefits or loans. It is a scam that steals necessary personal information, and Mr. Kayode is said to have belonged to a criminal organization that collectively commits romance scams.

The damage of 'romance scam' that tricks the other party with the power of love has increased by 50%, is it due to the new corona?-GIGAZINE

In this criminal organization, in addition to the role of a deceiver who is directly in charge of interacting with targets such as Mr. Kayode, he also applies for benefits etc. based on the stolen personal information and performs money laundering. The roles such as the thief to do were separated. And one day, Kayode said that one of the thieves had stolen the money he was asking for laundering, and he was caught by offering prostitution and 'sell nude photos' on a dating site. I started to perform 'matching app scams' in which people transfer money and then live.

Examples like Mr. Kayode are not uncommon, and in fact cybercrime is on the rise in Nigeria. The Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which specializes in economic and financial crime, announced that there were 117 people arrested for cyber fraud in 2019 and 62 in 2020, but in 2021, 'only in the first half of the year. The FBI in the United States has announced that it has exceeded 300 people. It has reached more than yen), and this amount has tripled from 2019. ' According to a survey result released by Agari, a security company specializing in business mail (PDF file) , when analyzing fraudulent mail that does not hide its identity with a proxy etc., about 50% was sent from Nigeria. It is known.

Kayode-san was unknowingly calling her mother while she was being messed up at the party mentioned above, and when she woke up, she was on the way to the boarding house on the bus. Mr. Kayode said that he was able to reunite with his mother, wash his feet from a series of criminal activities, and live with him. Some people didn't dye it. ' These cases are becoming a daily routine in Nigeria, where many young people are fighting the moral guilt of being fascinated by the income earned from cybercrime, and some are out of the way.