Sadder and sadder it gets by the day as young Nigerians, one even just 16 years old, resort to the blue collar crime of internet fraud.
On Friday, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested 29 suspected internet fraudsters, better known as Yahoo Yahoo Boys in three different locations in Owerri, the Imo State capital. The haul included a 16-year-old undergraduate.
Most, in the photo of them taken in a group, were too ashamed to look up to the camera, apparently not wanting to be recognised by friends and families.
The commission’s spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement said the suspects, who are believed to have used different pseudo names to allegedly defraud their unsuspecting victims, were arrested following intelligence and three days surveillance on their hideouts in Bishops Courts’ Malo Lodge, Umuagu Mbieri and King David’s Suite in Owerri.
Five cars that include: Lexus RX 350, 2013 model, Lexus RX 330, 2009 model, Lexus ES 300, 2002 model, Toyota Corolla Sport and Toyota Camry were seized from them, so also 15 laptops, phones and computer hard-drives.
In one of the locations, some of the suspects in an attempt to secure some computer hard-drives and phones inserted them inside a bag of rice in the room, but all were recovered through a diligent search by the Commission’s operatives.
The suspects have given useful information on their illicit activities and would be prosecuted upon conclusion of investigations.