I guess the best way to solve the problem is for the government to take the problem seriously. Some progress has been made in that direction but more still needs to be done. One step I think was that all PC's on the internet in Nigeria are now required to have a static IP address. Hence messages originating from a particular PC can be traced to that PC.

What need to be done is for the govt to set up a unit in the police to police the Internet and catch does sending fraud mails. there are technologies to solve it and it only require seriousness on the part of the government.

Also citizen should report those involved in these fraudulent activities, the question is who do they report to?
A simple way of making reporting to be effective is to compensate those who report. using the Singapore model for combacting drug trafficking can help.
Simply give a part of the asset of a convict to the informant and you will see Lot of people actually turning in the fraudsters.

Fraudsters are just a little % of Nigerians, but their effect on all Nigerians is real and very damaging, the question is how long will the innocent Nigerians suffer silently before doing something to help themselves.

Just check Alibaba.com for example, this is a site that promotes trade, instead of catching on the opportunities provided to make decent revenue, many Nigerian companies listed on the site are mere fraudsters. Nigerians have demean themselves to the extent that they don't believe they can make money legally and turn to fraud.

Sorry to say but our govt isnt ready to fight fraud/crime. The first and most important step to fight fraud/crime is knowing your citizens. thats the biggest tool the civilized world use in fighting fraud. Our politicians are dirty and if we implement operation know your citizens in Nigeria (Citizens identification/DNA data base)they will all be exposed. Right now everyone in Nigeria is invincible to one another so its a safe place for crime to strive.
Nigerians are very smart breeds they think deep and wide on how to twist and bend and game the system so in creating a citizens data base there must be DNA identification to prevent finger print fraud. If i was the president, I would propose chip implants identification, but thats for another topic for another day.
Everyone going into the cafe for internet useage should register their identification card number veirfiable by the attendant and also finger print and sign time in/out he/she entered the cafe! what pc he/she uses thats all we need, in turn the policing bodies (EFCC or ICPC) should have a computer forensic department. It is a known fact that know matter how u delect information from the pc it can still be extracted via computer forensic. the computer forensic dept will come at specific times to scan all pc in cafes, tho' the process can be pain-taking it should be done to arrest these criminals. fraud information found on pc will be corrolated wit time used and compared to the signed register to figure out who was on the pc at that time,when concluded the the EFCC will process the finger print and go for the kill to swoop on the scammers, easy as ABC. Robbers who rob banks/homes or buses can be caught wit a citizens DNA data base if those crimes scenes are properly preserved after the crime. Apart from processing finger prints saliva can be processed for specific DNA that can be scaned on the DNA data base for specific individuals. humans tend to loose body hairs while under duress, fear or shock. Criminals do loose alot of body hair during crime, if crime scenes are properly preserved it can be processed wit neonlights at night for specific evidence as hair/saliva/prints and other specific items that might drop from the robbers during raid, wit the combined help of CCTV all robbers would be caught even after they have perfected their crime. Footage from CCTV should be place on TV for the public to assist the police wit information. There should be a single data base for bank clients controlled by CBN and the policing authorities should be given access to it when requested. That is how it is done here in the USA, i mean even tho' USA doesnt make use of implant identification its the highest form of security and it is now been contemplated for convicted criminal for dispeakable crimes like sex offenders and first degree murders so that they can be easily identified by the public after serving their jail term. Some are even calling for tatoo of crime committed on the criminals forehead.

Also we should have a solid offender data base where a back-ground check can always be done weather u are 10yrs old or 100yrs old once u commit a crime u will be registered under the offenders data base. Nigeria embassies abroad should inform the police department in their respective countries to inform them when ever a Nigerian is arrest that way they can also be registered so that when they get their degree and go back home cos they criminal record wont allow them a job abroad, their criminal records will prevent them from gaming the system, that way if u seek employ into govt agencies/banks/oil firm or private companies/or even participating in Guilder ultimate search, such will have to do a background check on the employee to make sure that he/she dont have a criminal record before employment, having a criminal background automatically disqualifies you. that way only honest hard working people will always get the best of the society. If such is implemented we certainly wont have cultism in school and prostitution in school by young girls will automatically stop that way, what u do today determines ur future tomorrow, and there will be enough open jobs for good people. Your inability to secure a job will largely means u personally disqualified yourself wit wht u did few yrs back. Banks would not lend money to those wit history of crime and that way there will be sanity good and geniue people who need money for business or emergencies can walk into the bank and get such at a low interest rate, bingo!, the system will be up and runing again better than what it was in the 60s/70s after the britis left us after our leader said they were man and old enough to handle the affairs of the country meanwhile what they meant was they were man and old enough to STEAL. while those of us who miss eba and amala will come home.
And there will be enough open jobs for good people. Your inability to secure a job will largely means u personally disqualified yourself wit wht u did few yrs back.

I'm ready to assist in whatever capacity to help combat fraud in Nigeria. But I'm afraid it can't be done. Why? The same reason why AIDS cannot be cured.
Fraud in Nigeria is now a syndrome. And the very instruments that are supposed to be defending it (The family institution, government, religiuos bodies etc) have been destroyed by the virus

My heart bled when I realised that majority of Nigerians don't seem to know the difference between wrong and right anymore.

Or how else can you describe a situation:

Where a father gives money to his child to go and 'block' his way through school and on graduation organise a big party for him/her.

or where a 'yahoo-yahoo pig' goes to the church to give thanksgiving for his newly bought car.

Where merit has been slaughtered on the alter of 'connection'.

Where agberos command more respect than the police.

Where the police people 'cannot live' without collecting N20 around street corners.

Where the few credible people can't contest for election and win.

Where human life is accorded no value.

Where people don't know their rights no more.

Where government has turned into confraternity in the name of Godfatherism.

Where people cannot do a single thing right except told and forced to do so.

Where the most powerful and influential youth leaders in the Niger Delta are all Millitants. These are the future leaders of
the region.
I'm a Niger Deltan, but when I look into the future I can't help but say 'woe betide Niger Delta!'

At times, I feel like the world should stop so I can alight. I'm the most patriotic Nigerian, but I will leave the country with the first opportunity that presents itself. Where to? Maybe Ghana, maybe Cotonou, maybe Uk, maybe Australia, maybe Dubai.
I'm not going in search of money. All I need is a re-assurance of sanity. I want to be re-assured I'm not the one who's insane. I want to be re-assured that it is the people I see and relate with that are insane.

Show me a sane Nigerian and I'll show you a thoroughly irritated man.


I don't believe in predestination, but maybe Nigeria has been destined to be like this.
In that case, I beg to withdraw back my pledge!

God help Nigeria. I love her so much.
But she's headed in the path of destruction.

We can start by placing high emphasis on training our upcoming youths on how to deduce bitterly from right and wrong, life a corrupt free life. By standing straight our self and setting perfect example, menthol all these kids by showing them the negative side of corruption. I’m of the opinion that right now, corruption is in our blood stream; 95% of foreigners you meet will tell you every Nigerians are fraudulent people. We need to change this habit by setting a different tone as an individual, build a different legacy as an hard working individual who does not earn his/her living through extortion of others…the image people perceive through an individual might and will make a difference.

oyinbos wont help us out of this one. i'm not trying to minimize 419, but compared to russia, baltic countries, china, our scams are nothing. we get the worst rap because we dont have th economic power to launder our image. "oyinbo" has been showing the worst parts of africa forever, so dont expect them to play nice and help us with our image problem.

on how to solve our fraud problem, create more OPPORTUNITY and wait for the older generations to die off . maybe i'm wrong, but i have noticed the "easy money" mindset in older guys. younger guys are more willing to grind it out in school, get a decent job and move up the ladder if they get the OPPORTUNITY

If given the opportunity, i can draft out a plan for the govt and policing agencies to combact crime to a standstill here are some steps.

1. Create a citizenship data base which should include finger print and DNA profiling.
2. Create a well funded SWAT force with latest manuvering helicopters atleast five H-copters in each state. This will help the SWAT team of sharp shooters to deploy within seconds and back up ground force.
3. CBN should create a data base for banks where customer's information such as names finger print will be store made accessible to policing agencies during an investigation.
4. Create a crime data base, the president should make a nationwide broadcast to educate Nigerian on the crime data base and how it can affect their lives positively and negatively and warn them to desist from crime. All employment agencies, banks, industries should be mandated to do a background check before employing a citizen also political office holders and the presidential aspirant should under-go background checks, if anyone was found to have committed a crime that person becomes automatically disqualified even if the person is a first-class product. If we had such system people like Ibori who was once involved in creditcard fraud and thieft in the UK would have been disqualified before he became governor and that would have saved us billions of dollars he stole. No matter how small a crime is and how young the criminal might be that person's name should be entered into the crime data base if found guilty. That will send a strong signals to the Youths and every citizens.
5. Restore Electricity immediate with all tools available, meanwhile all electricity exported to neigbouring nations like Niger, Ghana, Benin etc should be stop and reverted back to power the nation. Because with electricity small scale business will strive. And temptation to perfect crime will reduce.
6. Create a telecom data base, where call data of both mobile, CDMA abd fixed lines will be recorded and policing agencies can access it to link criminals, i applaud recent requirement of mobile registration, but more needs to be done like pictures, that way the data base will have names, pics and even tumb print side by side.
7. Instead of yeye community policing which allow police men to extort money, i would recommend intelligent policing, where intelligent gathering police officers in disguise will be posted to work and live under cover for months, it should be strategically planed where they can be deployed to live in a room apart and make friends with the neighbours. Some should be posted as mechanic apprentices while other should seek jobs as bear palour attendant. This is the most important tool that the FBI is using here in America. Sexy female officers should also be recruited and posted on prostitution pretence with wire-tap and back-up monitoring personals. The intelligent policing should include police men posing as mafia drug dealers & mafia gun dealers, who will sell marked guns without arresting the criminals and even follow them to perform police programmed crimes. mostly bullionvan robberies where bullion vans set-up by the police with cash will be robbed. This is the way to squash high profile robberies gangs. After the robberies must have successfully taken place and during sharing of the proceed the gangs will be rounded up. That way the inner-gods of crimes can be brought to book. Cos' most of the time brains behind roberies never go for the roberies but surface during sharing of proceeds. I m suprised that the past and present IG himself couldnt come up with such ideas what training do they go for in the USA and Europe what conferences? if they can wire profession policing back home.
8. All policing personal should be insured to the tune of N5million naira minimum with a govt house incase of death of policeman during crime fighting or spray bullets by robbers such insurance should be paid to the family after exhaustive investigation, however insurance will not cover police officers linched by angry mob after shooting a conductor who refuses to pay N20 bribe or police officers who was shot by robbers because of exposure during collection of N20 bribe, that is why a solid investigation should be carried out to determine how the officer died and impact point of bullet. Yes, impact point of bullet tells a great deal of story with a sofisticated forensic institution to process it. In order to save govt frivolous insurance fees knowing the kind of country will live in most wives of police officers can poison their husband either because the love has gone sour or the man has ladies outside, once they know N5million is up for grabs, that is why the insurance wont cover such death, we should be responsible for our action. All policing officers serving, his/her children educational fees and healthy requirement should be immdiately covered by the government to boost moral.
9. A modern forensic institution should be built in each state with personal sent to the USA for 6months - 1year training. This will aid in the capture of hired killers and processing of bullet shells found on robery sites, mind you bullet shells have finger prints on them. Without a modern forensic institution, DNA and finger print data-base is useless.
10. A mandatory requirement should be made in secret to all embassies both African, Asian and Europe embassies in Nigeria to forward names of applicants applying for visa to travel abroad for background check and clearance such names and passport details should be forwarded to the policing agencies directly by the embassies . Once a crime is commit the next thing a criminal thinks about is jetting out of the country, most youths perform crimes to raise money for visa and travel expenses especially to America and Europe, and can be pin down during visa application, this is another way to capture criminals on the run.
11. Nigerian embassies abroad should partner with with policing agencies abroad so that any Nigerian caught commiting crime abroad should be deported back home, international passport seized and a 5yrs travel abroad band implemented and sent to all embassies, while the person's name is entered into the nation's crime data base.
12. States govts should implement "Operation no criminal accomodation" If anyone found to have committed a crime should not be accomodated in any state but his/her state of origin/state of birth. That way a criminal who is from edo state and committed a crime in lagos will not be allowed to live in any other state in the country than edo state. This can be done if a citizen identity card with a compact swipe identification facility which will be available to all motorized police officers.
13. Death sentence should be made mandatory for criminals apprehended and convicted for robberies and political office holders who steal from govt purse or get kick backs from over inflated contracts because political office holder are crime boosters they boost crime by fustrating the citizens they swore to protect by defrauding the nation and stealing funds required for projects that will make life meaningful for the masses.
#12 is no doubt a tough rule but we are also in a tough state of crime in our nation where hard working citizens cant have rest of mind, as well only a toughly implemented rule will drastically change Nigeria, majority of Nigerians are law abiding and advantage taking citizens, so with a lapsed law/system you can be sure that most Nigerians will seize every opportunity to game the system. Tho!, #12 can be open for debate, but if i was the president it will be implemented immediately, after all who wants to harbor a convict.

1. Let the govt deal with his own people first and be serious about it too, dnt make noise about some governor being arrested and we hear nothing afterwards.
2. Let the oppressions stops
3. Give pple that wanna work, the opportunity to work
4. Let the bank sector give a chance to those that wanna start a coy and yet are not from the families of the elite.
5. Create Jobs! Jobs!! and more
6. Less pressure on the youths to make money to feed the family

@ all postors,

i have read diligently and passionately all the comments made by you all. i really commend your patrotism, infact am challenged to improve my level of patrotism. if all we have said so far are from the heart, i have no fear within me that nigeria indeed has a brighter future.

To address the issue, Fraud is entrenched not only in nigeria but world wide. since the day JACOB fraudulently deprived ESAU of their father's blessing, fraud has become a cankerworm. Professionals in this field has also come to terms that fraud is INERASABLE in any part of the world. what most govt do is to minimise it because it has a great effect on the economy. I must really confess, in any country where there exist a GOVERNEMENT, whether democratically elected or not CORRUPTION is expected. but MATERIALITY IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Having said these, in Nigeria we have people that can manage the economy and reduce the effects of fraud and corruption on the economy. Ezekwesili iniated the DUE PROCESS. A POLICY Meant to implement effective internal control system, but we did not ALLOW IT WORK. cos we believe IN BUSINESS AS USUAL.

The way out however is: LIVE BY EXAMPLE. i mean govt should live by example and not the kind shown by OBJ. While the old man pretended to be fighting corruption in Nigeria, his aides were busy filling their pockets with our hard earned resources.

ECONOMIC BOOM: The governemnet should revisit its policies as they affect employment, manufacturing, disposable income, investment and rule of law. in any country where these are ineffective or lacking, CORRUPTION IS INEVITABLE.

RELIGIOUS LEADERS: its highly regretable that some of our religious leaders celebrate people that acquired wealth through fraudulent means just because they are able to donate a vehicle or genarator to them. They should therefore be upright and fearless in condemning these act of indecency.

FAMILY AND PEER GROUP: our families should no longer encourage us to steal from govt believing it to be a NATIONAL CAKE

Hello Forumites,

Am very happy to respond to this kind of post, infact, it has been my heart desires to share my mind on the issue like this, sincerely Nigeria has been a country so many people can not proud of, but of course, it calls for that, have you ever order for anything on the net and get a response of this offer is not available in your area even when you are willing to pay for the offer, that is the extend these atrocities has gotten to. But I know that there will be a new Nigeria, where corruption will not come near, where it is going to be said that once upon a time when we mention corruption.


SOLUTION

You are the solution, I'm the solution, the moment you take it upon yourself that you are going to live right, some people who has been looking unto you as role model will definitely follow, so if you embrace righteousness and I embrace it too, before we know we begin to affect people around us. Nigeria has not spoiled because of corruption alone but because of our atittudes, if we can change our attitudes then Nigeria we be a better place.


A MUST TO READ

There was a man who decided in his heart that he is going to change the world, he tried it but coudn't, he said to himself I will go and change my country, he tried it and failed, he now said if I can not change my country I should be able to change my state, he came to his state but all to no avail, he now said since I can not change my state let my try my local government, he tried it as well but he couldn't, so he said I will be able to change my town and he came to his town but it was unfortunate for him because he couldn't change his town, he thought to himself what will I do, I will change my compound and he went ahead, but all to zero, he now said again let me change my family he tried it he still failed. He now finally arrived and said I will change myself at least if I can not change everything. So he did and he was successful. Not quite long the family member noticed and they change their characters before we know, in their compound everybody begin to notice and they were changing, that was how the changes begin to extend untill the whole of his country changed.

MORAL LESSON

Lets change ourself individually, before we know, Nigeria would have become a better country.


God bless you all who has contributed to the development of this our glorious country, we are going to eat the fruit of the land. Lets just keep praying for our Jerusalem.


Before I go, if you drink pure water and you drop the nylon on the road, you are not contributing to the growth of Nigeria.

God Bless You
God Bless Our Country Nigeria

Love you:
Love Nigeria

Am proud of you Nigeria.

Combating Fraud in nigeria is like telling a new brand baby to eat fufu and ogbono, not possible. Sad though.

Fhemmmy:

Combating Fraud in nigeria is like telling a new brand baby to eat fufu and ogbono, not possible. Sad though.

oh yes bruv or like telling a man to swallow olumo rock!

;d

Its like saying Nigeria should have a free and fair election.

@ OKija, that is a funny one

One thing I hate about us is that we all knows what the solutions are and yet, we beat around the bush! There is nothing like you are the solution, I am the solution here in combating fraud in Nigeria.

The solution is very simple. Impose death penalty to Frauds! By the time we kill ten or more people convicted, then all others will know that we are serious and they will stop! It is a full stamp!

That is it. No other way out for us. Death penalty/public executions is the only key to solving it my people.

The answer is simple pay people living wages with that people won't cut corners .

After paying the living wages then enforce the existing laws

Embrace hard work.

@Naijacutie

We can fight corruption in Naija by cutting off the hands of anyone caught and found guilty of fraud and 419. This will serve as a detterent to other fraudsters. Even Govt. Officials, chop off their dang fingers. qed.

cuttin off hands is completely inhuman, and could breed dangerous criminals, if u take a peep at countries like saudis they have jobs for their citizens even wit the hash laws, also it conforms to their religion and beliefs. Certainly puttin people to work.

The problem here is corruptions! There will never be employment when we are corrupt! Who will employ you? How can a police employ when the police boss have eating up the money to pay his workers? Or how can they employ teachers when the head have long eating up the salaries of all the teachers? How can a company employ when the person in charge has taking the company money oversea to bank for his family?

You see? there is only one way out here my dear.

That way is: Impose death penalty to Frauds! By the time we kill ten or more people convicted, then all others will know that we are serious and they will stop! It is a full stamp!

That is it. No other way out for us. Death penalty/public executions is the only key to solving it my people.

The solution is available but the will-power is lacking.

The ideas proffered by kenflipper for example will do wonders. But who will implement it. Online criminals are thriving well in Nigeria because the masses are not educated on the ills of such crimes and also there is no database where records are archived for easy retrival.

That is not to say that we should keep our hands folded and watch helplessly. There are things we can do for now.

This thread is a good example. We can educate people by writing and informing them of the consequences of engaging in criminal activities ONLINE.

Too many young people think that they can commit a crime ANONYMOUSLY on the net and go FREE. In reality, it is not. Anyone can actually be located if the need for identication becomes CRITICAL enough to make the COST of such endeavor irrelevant. If you doubt, me make a post about the president of a developed nation threatening to carry out an assassination of his family, you will be surprised how they will trace you to your VILLAGE CYBER CAFE.

Even though we console ourselves with hiding behind proxy walls, every user of INTERNET leaves fingerprints as he/she surfs, and if the need arise, such fingerprints can be collated and used to trace the user.

Let's educate our people especially the TEENS, that way, they will better utilize their time and energy for something productive and legal and still make the MEGA MILLIONS they so desire without engaging in online CRIME!

This is possible, because I a living example. Cheers.

Only if the country was a better placce.

;Dxjasonx

how, crime is every where na, you never talk the crime wey americans and europeans dey do, na only Nigerians de,m sabi blame,

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself
Since fraud is a criminal act, i think the best solution that is above all is to love one another.
You can never think of defrauding your fellow man if only you consider the aftermath of you intended actions on your subject/target.
Love is the only way out and it should be campaigned to all

One significant question is, who are we fighting fraud for?
Are we fighting fraud just so Nigerians abroad won't be embarrassed?

I don't think a large population of Nigerians in Nigeria are really aware of the image these online fraudsters have relegated us to. I think the media (talk shows etc)  can help in attacking this issue by enlightening the public on where we stand in the international scene.

Seun:

One significant question is, who are we fighting fraud for?
Are we fighting fraud just so Nigerians abroad won't be embarrassed?

The image we've created for ourselves should be embarrassing to every Nigerian both home and abroad.