Fergie's Tech Blog

419 Watch: Nigerian 'Yahoo Boys' Rounded Up By Crimes Commission

Gary Warner writes on Cyber Crime & Doing Time:

Cyber Cafes in Akure in the state of Ondo, and Onitsha, in the state of Anambra were raided today. The locals have a term for the type of cyber criminal who lurks in these cafes. They call them "Yahoo Boys".

In Akure, agents of the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission), acting as customers, mingled about the crowd, bought airtime, and began using computers themselves while observing the activities of those around them. Once their suspicions were confirmed, they rose and identified themselves, requiring each of the users of the cafe to remain on site until they had confirmed what email addresses they had been using, and what activities those email addresses had been performing.

"This Day" in Lagos reports that at least one Yahoo Man jumped out the window when the raid began. This Day reports that the following day the cyber cafes were nearly empty, "leaving only those with serious business".

posted by Fergie @ 4/03/2008 06:22:00 PM