By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Nigerians face reputation problem abroad caused by internet fraudsters.
Although a minority bunch, the actions of the fraudsters have created a perception problem for the country and its people.
From Ghana to Kenya and South Africa, on the continent; from Indonesia in South East Asia to the United States, Nigerians are treated with the suspicion of being cheats. But these fraudsters, called Yahoo or 419 in local parlance, are just a few individuals. The majority of Nigerians are hardworking people.
In Britain there are currently 6,312 medical doctors of Nigerian origin, according to data on the UK General Medical Council website.
According to Fareed Zakaria in a report on the CNN, Nigerian immigrants are some of the most educated immigrants in the United States.
“According to the migration policy institute, 59 per cent of Nigerian immigrants aged 25 and older in the U.S. hold at least a bachelor’s degree.
“Nigerian immigrants tend to work high skilled jobs. 54 per cent of them are in largely white collar positions in management, business, science and the art compared to just 39 per cent of people born in the U.S. That means, of course, they have significant spending power,” he said.
These Nigerians, may sometimes have to endure a stigma of being treated as fraudsters. The reason is because of the attitude of some of their compatriots.
For example, the United States announced on June 16, the seizing of assets worth about $6 million belonging to six Nigerian internet fraudsters who specialize in romance scams of elderly women and widows.
Last year August, the U.S. charged 80 people, 77 of them Nigerians, for participating in a conspiracy to steal $46 million using business email fraud schemes and romance scams to con victims.
A Nigerian that had been celebrated on the cover of Forbes magazine, Obiwanne Okeke, also known as Invictus Obi, yesterday, June 18, confessed to a US court in Eastern District of Virginia that he participated in a fraud to steal $11 million from a company, Unatrac Holding Limited, the export sales office for Caterpillar.
Ray Hushpuppi, a Nigerian based in Dubai, is being held for allegedly targeting $35 million meant for payment to U.S. citizens as COVID-19 palliative.
A Cyber Security expert, Ebongabasi Ekpe-Juda, says Nigerian cyber laws must regularly be updated just as internet fraud evolves.
He says some of the laws may be irrelevant in fighting today’s internet fraudsters.
“In this country, we are not very suspicious. We are easily carried away. You see a small boy who comes home with a lot of money. Nobody probes. His community even confers on him titles. Our moral values have gone so bad.
“In some countries, they investigate you. I was in a shop in London and a young man brought a lot of money. The attendant left and called the police.
“The tax system is bad. If a politician who earns N40 million pays tax of N25 million, then he would not be too eager to allocate so much money to himself as salary.
“If you drive a Bentley and the tax official says what tax have you paid for the car, then we will know if it is genuine money or fraudulent enrichment.
“All those people building houses in Banana Island, what tax have they paid,” he said.
A chartered accountant and tax consultant, Eugene Onyibo, also corroborated Ekpe-juda’s views.
He said if fraudulent money are used in the acquisuion of real estate, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) could track such transaction, especially when it is done by a corporate organisation. He added that the snag is when such transaction is carried out by unregistered entities.
He said that although banks were obligated to report cash deposits greater than $10,000, these fraudsters could beat the system by lodging the monies in installments or connive with dubious account officers so as not to escalate the transaction.
The point the experts have made is that tax laws are the way to go in fighting internet fraudsters.
