BUEA YOUTHS AND CYBERCRIME AT THE URGe

         Cybercrime is a whole network of criminal activities done, using the internet. As wide as the internet spreads, 80% percent of its coverage has little or no security because it appears a different world on its own, without any rulers. 

Criminal offences go as far as child trafficking, illicit drug trafficking, spread of pornographic content, email interception, impersonation, cheating, falsification, forgery and fraudulent representation of facts.

The ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’ business, formally known as cyber fraud in Cameroon’s cybercrime law, is not a new phenomenon in the country. The illicit business, mostly perpetrated by young men and sometimes women, is an offshoot of the so-called ‘419’ business of the 1980s and 1990s.

The 419 code is derived from a section of Nigeria’s Criminal Act Section 419 (Advance Free Fraud) which frowns at obtaining money from people through impersonation, cheating, falsification, counterfeiting, forgery and fraudulent representation of facts.

Internet fraud has now been here for decades and does not seem to be declining in spite of the government’s efforts to stem the tide of the crime that has given the country a bad reputation

Boys involved in the illicit business have various ways of duping their victims – mostly foreigners. These range from romance scam, email phishing, business email compromise fraud, identity theft, impersonation, to generating bogus business transactions that look too good to be true and shady business deals running into millions of Francs CFA, usually in hard currencies.

Some of the men involved in the illegal business often resort to seeking metaphysical powers from herbalists that they believe will enable them to hypnotize or control their victims for the time they are on their radar. These latter categories of boys are called ‘Yahoo boys’ or ‘G-boys.’

According to some findings, the men involved in internet fraud also drive expensive automobiles, consume illicit drugs(marijuana and tramadol, to keep them high), shop in classy boutiques and date some of the prettiest ladies in the cities because they have the cash to throw around.

James Bayee, an individual I met at Molyko-Buea, told megetting apartments in some parts of the city is now a herculean task because of the rising cost of accommodation instigated by the purchasing power of these boys.

“These boys can pay any amount to secure an apartment for themselves in highbrow areas,” he said. As for the ubiquitous presence of ‘yahoo boys’ in the city, James, who asked that his real name not be used, said that is the reigning ‘business’ in the town.

“The surprising thing is that the more security agencies are on their trail, the more their number increases. It appears it has become a subculture here, an accepted part of the society,” he told me.

According to him, the boys are often quartered in areas like Mayor Street, Both Malingo Streets, Checkpoint, Stadium road and Bonduma Gate. He said the boys often patronize exclusive bars in the city for fun.

BACKGROUND.

The first cybercafés appeared in Cameroon in the late 1990s; spacious and swanky in some areas, cramped and stuffy in other places but, nonetheless, spaces that depicted the world’s commitment to globalize. Cybercafés opened up large and small in major cities all over the country, often working around the clock and providing a window to the Internet at agreeable financial rates. These establishments opened their doors and Cameroonians visited them in droves for a multiplicity of reasons—academic, exploratory, familial and fraudulent.

There is a long-standing association of Buea-Cameroon with cyber-fraud. The origin of these scams in the country can be traced to the 1980s. 

Formerly a subculture copied from Nigerians as British Southern Cameroon’s was closer to Nigeria. Many of these guys who engaged into online fraud often came to neighboring Cameroon, harbored in the town of Kumba, established gangs and scam groups, thus continued their activities since it was something new to most inhabitants of the town. 

In the 90s, as cybercafés emerged, it provided more access to email, and, in turn, new avenues for communication, veterans of the postal fraud era sensed an opportunity opening for a larger market to direct their scams; and together with newer, younger perpetrators seduced by the promise of quick wealth from email scams, they finessed and upgraded the old Spanish Prisoner trick. These online fraudsters soon came to be known as ‘scammers’ (nges boys) or ‘Yahoo boys’ so named after their major tool of operation—Yahoo Mail.

Since cyber cafes usually operated for 24 hours, cybercriminals operated without restrictions and worked as long as they wished. These scams, often successful, brought underhand riches to scammers and soon created a class of nouveau-riche citizens. The success of these criminal operations inspired equal remonstration in the nations of their victims and before long the image of Cameroon globally was connected to email frauds (but on a smaller scale usually under the canopy of Nigeria). Embarrassed by the international gaze on Cameroon due to actions of conmen, the Cameroon government responded by clamping down on cybercriminals through surprise raids on cybercafés and sanctions targeted at limiting, or at least, discouraging the operations of ‘Yahoo Boys’ headquartered in these establishments.

Shallow Industry:

The sophistication, prevalence and notoriety of cybercrime suggest that web-based infringements are now big business. Moreover, cybercrime has significant economic impacts. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), estimated in its 2018 report that around $600 billion dollars is lost to cybercrime. This figure roughly amounts to 1 per cent of global income and factors in all aspects of cyber-criminality: advance-fee frauds, identity theft, financial hacks and phishing. To put it into context, cybercrime is only third behind government corruption and narcotics trafficking as a global crime though it effectively affects more individuals than either crime with an estimated two out of every three people in the world having been a victim of its reach at least once in their lives.

With the money at stake in cybercrime and its relative ease, it is not surprising that something approaching a global ecosystem has emerged that serves to make perpetration more fruitful. Using Cameroon as an example, despite the almost exclusive practice of aggressive advance-fee frauds, the crime is rarely, if ever, perpetuated in isolation. Specific roles exist within the Cameroon cybercrime community that interconnects with primary services. Aside from the scammer who opens a line of communication with the victim and baits them into sending money, there is the hacker who handles financial schematics or more complex crimes involving identity theft and phishing. Often, they break into secure networks used by financial institutions for high-level scams that take place across multiple countries.

In cases of small to medium-value scams, there’s the picker who receives money from the victims and launders it without suspicion. In essence, there is a chain of service and reward.

This economy of cybercrime is not Cameroon-specific; it operates on a global scale, driven by the connectivity of the Internet, which relegates the concept of borders and jurisdiction to the background. Spread across new outposts like India, Russia and Vietnam, this transnational shadow economy is fast gaining notoriety. Aided by the increased demand for cybercrime tools, this economy organizes and aids the monetization of goods such as pre-packaged malware, spyware and credit card information, and services such as secure hacking, spamming and money laundering—all of which are negotiated over untraceable IP addresses.

Buea only happens to be one of the cities in Cameroon where the activities of cybercrime was born, this it harnesses all characters and characteristics dealing with cybercrime

Contextual Analysis.

The general cyber security is covered by article 6 to 9 of law No 2010/012 of 21 December 2010. But how ever in Cameroon CERT (ANTIC) National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies, has been established in Cameroon so as to maintain cyber security.

Using (art 6 to 9 of law No 2010/012 of 21 December 2010) Cameroon has used substantive law and procedural laws that go as far as imprisonments of guilty cybercriminals from 5 to 10 years and finned ranging 5 to 10 million francs. 

The government through her officials does surprise raids on residential areas of suspected cybercriminals, random checks on cellphones seen with any suspects. 

Despite all measures put in place by the Cameroon government to counter cybercrime in Buea by targeting scam gang harbors and residents, it seem to fail in its course because most of government’s activities go against the fundamental rights of their citizens. 

Violation of rights mostly seen in form of social harassment, torture, extortion of funds which all lead to spreading structural violence in the city.  In fact it might take longer than expected to counter cybercrime in the city because the more agencies are out to counter, the more corruption prevails and new findings show that some agents of the agencies put in place are also involved in the ‘yahoo business network’, thus a subculture and new way of life amongst inhabitants of Buea.

Most notably, these scammers say they do this business as a means of revenging the ills of colonialism and slave trade. This has however proven successful as these youths have in another way helped boost the financial and banking system of the town through influx of foreign currencies for higher exchange rates. It also have seen some improvements in infrastructure, roads and emergence of fast growing business hubs in the city of  Buea (in a space of just ten years). 

Adverse developments have led to increase in crime wave, raising the bar of living cost and social cohesion. Most notably leading to drastic climate change in the city of Molyko Buea in the last five years, due to overpopulation, deforestation and pollution.

 

Recommendations: 

For some time now, hardly does a week pass without the police parading young men for cyber fraud or some being jailed by courts for internet fraud-related offences.

In fact, it is almost a daily occurrence to the extent that some persons no longer pay any attention to it. It is now a sub-culture, an indication that it is the new normal, despite the country’s criminal justice system being stoutly against it. However I think some of these policies can help reduce this rate. 

•Encourage innovative cyber security solutions.

If governments want to realize the savings and efficiencies from going digital, they need to constantly keep one step ahead of criminals. Gangs are clever and fast; as soon as one route gets blocked they work to find another. Governments have to be even more nimble, to come up with innovative and cost-effective ways to block cybercrime and frustrate the efforts of criminals to cash-out and monetize stolen information. New technologies such as biometrics, analytics and virtualization can play a part – but so can education and awareness.

Unfortunately, many public sector digital crime prevention projects become large, expensive undertakings that don’t always deliver. 

It’s definitely worth looking at how the private sector approaches this challenge. Financial services companies, especially banks, often create smaller, less costly ‘incubator’ teams with the freedom to try out offbeat, innovative ideas. They’re accustomed to the digital threat and have a good record of pioneering anti-fraud measures.

Banks also adopt a philosophy known as ‘fast to fail,’ which halts unsuccessful projects quickly, before they consume too much money. By following this example, governments could become more agile, and develop systems that spot threats early and prevent breaches.

•Website Audit.

Amid the increasing number of government website hacking, email phishing, data theft, and privacy breach cases, the government should plan on conducting an audit on all the government websites and applications. Under this initiative, good security auditing organizations should be empanelled by the government for auditing the best practices of information security.

•Malware protection.

The government can launch the ‘cyber Swachhta Kendra’ which is a cleaning bot used for malware analysis and detecting malicious programs (in India). It also comes with free tools to remove or omit them. Along with the Cyber Swachhta initiative the government can also set up a department to generate situational awareness about existing and potential cyber security threats.

 

•Education. 

-The aspect of education goes in very serious effects. 

Parents on their part should play a vital role in educating their children on the safe use of the internet. They must have control on what their children search, learn and do on the internet. We are only struggling to protect the younger generation so this should be a task that parents make undaunted the sacrifice. 

-Cybercrime and security should be a major and compulsory course amongst higher levels of education and an elementary study for secondary education. In this way it prepares the younger generation for general awareness and security, as well as boosting Morales for generating new technologies and innovations.

•Steady ready job market.

Most of these youths engaging in cybercrime are those that have a mastery of the digital world and who happen to have some degrees and diplomas in cyber networking. This is because the system is designed to train youths in computer science but not creating available job markets after their degree level. This causes frustration amongst the youths who then turn to the yahoo business for livelihood. The government must improve on her employment policies, so to help counter cybercrime. 

•Career orientation.

There should be more of career orientation campaigns to the youths especially in secondary schools. Findings show that many students in secondary and high schools go to school without a dream.

They tend to learn and study courses only designed them by their parents, guardians and peers. This causes frustration and lack of creativity which only leads to increase in cybercrime. So if more sensitization campaigns and career orientations are done amongst these youths, it helps create awareness of many different job opportunities. 

•Youth empowerment schemes.

 Youth empowerment schemes go as far as organizing trainings and seminars to keep youths busy with showcasing their talents in artistic activities, catering, agriculture and business.  These activities don’t only help boost the economy of Buea but also changes the perceptions and perceptive that generally runs through minds when talking about youths from Buea. 

• Alliance.

       Finally most important requirement for securing the internet is to have effective coordination between government officials who are overseeing the aspect of securing the whole nation. Proper formation of critical infrastructure and a seamless partnership between the public and the government are the two key aspects to a cyber-security framework.