The internet creates unlimited opportunities for commercial, social and educational activities for all, most especially the youths and the business class. But crimes associated with the internet; that is cybercrime, otherwise called internet fraud, is an image nightmare for Nigeria. The convenience associated with IT and the internet is now being exploited to serve criminal purposes.
The internet creates unlimited opportunities for commercial, social and educational activities for all, most especially the youths and the business class. But crimes associated with the internet; that is cybercrime, otherwise called internet fraud, is an image nightmare for Nigeria. The convenience associated with IT and the internet is now being exploited to serve criminal purposes.
Cybercrime covers internet fraud; not just online 419 – the use of computers and or the internet to commit crime. Computer-assisted crime includes: e-mail scams, hacking, distribution of hostile software (viruses and worms), denial of service attacks, and theft of data, extortion, fraud and impersonation, among others.
Cyber crime uses the unique features of the Net – sending of e-mail in seconds, speedy publication/ dissemination of information through the web to anyone on the planet. Computer attacks can be generated by criminals from anywhere in the world, and executed in other areas, irrespective of location. And often these criminal activities can be faster, easier and more damaging with the use of the internet.
The menace called cybercrime has also crept into the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service, creating for it a negative image.
But, it wasn’t until February 14 2012, when the Service at a joint press briefing with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC) that the extent of the damage to customs activities came to the fore. Its Comptroller General, Alhaji Dikko Abdulahi confirmed for the first time that the Service was investigating some criminals using the Cyber space to commit various offences against it and unsuspecting Nigerians about Custom s operations, such as employment, auction and various types of payments.
The Service conducted two recruitment exercises between 2009 and 2012. Long after the conclusion of these exercises, the Service had received numerous complaints from prospective applicants who claimed that they were lured into payment of various sums of money.
These complaints claimed that they got information about Customs recruitment from the purported websites of the Nigerian Customs Service. Some got their contacts from a facebook page allegedly belonging to the Comptroller General of the Customs.
We recall how a discovery of illegal recruitment was made during a routine documentation exercise for then- newly recruited Officers conducted at the Customs Training College Ikeja. 44 officers were found to have found their way into the college through the back door. Further investigations into the saga however pointed to the direction of some insiders who provided soft ground for the illegal recruitment. Five serving officers were rounded up for their active participation in the scam which involved extortion of various sums of money from prospective applicants and forgery of documents. The officers all serving at the Customs headquarters were subsequently handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for further actions.
Giving an insight into preliminary investigations into interne based crime in the Service, the Customs boss had revealed that the website and facebook pages used to perpetuate these activities were fake, even as he warned job-seekers not to allow them to be duped.
Sadly what started in Ibadan in Oyo state about two years ago has snowballed into a fledging business enterprise. From our investigations, there some fake websites, such as: nigeriacustomsservice.net, nigeriacustomsservice.info and many facebook accounts in the name of the Comptroller General of Customs; Alhaji Dikko Abdulahi Inde.
To further confirm that internet fraud has eaten deep into Customs operations, he also said earlier in August that the Nigeria Customs Service has arrested several of such criminals, and is even currently prosecuting 11 people at various courts.
There is no doubt about the fact that some unscrupulous officers are collaborating with other outside to undermined the integrity of Customs operations through the use of the internet and the social media.
When the service introduced DTI cafés, a couple of years ago, this newspaper had cause to raise alarm about sustaining the integrity of the process. It is however becoming very clear that majority of the crimes being perpetrated against the service are aided by its own personnel.
The confirmation last week by the CG of Customs that some of its senior officers run DTI cafés and that they also trade with their passwords at the Customs Processing Centres is a further confirmation that the Service will need to deal with the bad eggs from within to be able to curb the rising cases of job scams, auction scam and identity theft that is ravaging it.
The emerging dispensation of e customs and the evolution of the Nigerian Trade Portal and the imminent take over of destination inspection of all imports into the country by the Customs from the service providers will collectively further task the Service in the area of internet usage for trade and transactions without compromising the integrity of the process.
Apart from awareness and culture, security measures (technical and non-technical) will need to be put in place and enforced, as part of the solutions. This might involve raising penalties and increasing the seriousness of e-offences. Of course these are not within the purview of the Nigeria Customs Service, owing to the fact that the Service is not an isolated case.
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