Breaking: Nigeria ranks 16th in FBI International Cybercrime report

Barely five months, the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, showed a 10 percentage point rise in the number of extreme poor people in the country against the 2019 report of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, Thursday published a report, showing the top twenty International victim countries.

Nigeria ranked sixteen, (16), in its report, coming after Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada and India, that ranked 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

In October, 2020, NECA’s report said that the number of citizens in extreme poverty stood at an estimated 102 million, representing 50 per cent of the Nigeria’s estimated population of about 205 million, as against the 40 per cent reported by NBS in October 2019.

However, giving insight on how it came about with the rankings, in its report titled: “2020 Internet Crime Report”, FBI said: “IC3 received a record number of complaints from the American public in 2020: 791,790, with reported losses exceeding $4.1 billion.

“This represents a 69% increase in total complaints from 2019. Business E-mail Compromise (BEC) schemes continued to be the costliest: 19,369 complaints with an adjusted loss of approximately $1.8 billion.

“Phishing scams were also prominent: 241,342 complaints, with adjusted losses of over $54 million. The number of ransomware incidents also continues to rise, with 2,474 incidents reported in 2020.”

Explaining its modus operandi the anti-crime agency said: “Public reporting is central to the mission and success of IC3. Submitting a cyber crime complaint to IC3.gov not only helps the FBI address specific complaints—and provide support and assistance to victims —but also helps us prevent additional crimes by finding and holding criminal actors accountable. Information reported to the IC3 helps the FBI better understand the motives of cyber-criminals, the evolving threat posed, and tactics utilized, enabling us to most effectively work with partners to mitigate the damage to victims.

“Through the Recovery Asset Team, IC3 worked with its partners to successfully freeze approximately $380 million of the $462 million in reported losses in 2020, representing a success rate of nearly 82%.

“In addition, IC3 has a Recovery and Investigative Development Team which assists financial and law enforcement investigators in dismantling organizations that move and transfer funds obtained illicitly.”

Two well known Nigerians arrested over alleged internet scam

Obinwanne Okeke, also known as Invictus Obi was on February 17, 2021, jailed for 10 years in the US over a cyber fraud scam that led to the theft of about $11m (£8m).

Invictus Obi, used Nigerian-based companies to defraud people in the US. His companies used phishing emails to steal funds from victims.

Instagram influencer, Raymond Abbas, aka Hushpuppi, was arrested by Dubai Police and handed him over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, in the US.

Hushpuppi was accused of defrauding people through the internet.