The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its 2020 Internet Crime Report (IC3) has ranked Nigeria at 16th position among countries most affected by cybercrimes in the world in 2020.
According to the report, Nigeria in 2020 received 433 cyber-related crime complaints, noting that a prevalent internet criminal act during the COVID-19 pandemic was government impersonation.
“Criminals are reaching out to people through social media, emails, or phone calls pretending to be from the government”.
“The scammers attempt to gather personal information or illicit money through charades or threats,” the report said.
The FBI’s IC3 since its establishment in 2000 has received a total of 5,679,259 complaints with an average of 440, 000 complaints annually.
The 2020 IC3 excluding the US, ranked the United Kingdom at the top of the list, followed by Canada, India, Greece, and Australia.
South Africa was the only other African country in the top 20 of the IC3 at 6th position, while other countries on the list better than Nigeria are Pakistan, China, Columbia, and Hong Kong.
The report disclosed that the period under review recorded a high level of fraudster activities in 2020 including phishing scams, personal data theft, identity theft, extortion, non-payment/non-delivery scams.
Victims of these cybercrimes globally lost $4.2 billion with the likes of Nigerian entrepreneur, Obinwanne Okeke, popularly known as Invictus Obi who was arrested and has been jailed for 10 years over masterminding an $11 million cyber fraud crime.
Also, popular Instagram celebrity, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppy was arrested in Dubai, UAE in June 2020, for money laundering, cyber frauds, and scams of hundreds of millions of dollars as well as aiding North Korean criminals launder funds.
