After all my years of using the internet, it is beginning to get rather annoying that the word "fraud" seems to be synonymous with "Nigeria". One simple exercise: Go to http://uk.answers.yahoo.com Type in "Nigeria" and read the questions and their responses. I guarantee you that 99.5% of the time, in every question, there has been a negative response with the word "scam" in it, just because the word "Nigeria" has been mentioned. Yes, very country has dishonest people in it, and varying levels of fraud exists in every government, society and organisation regardless of what appears on the surface. But look at the state we are in - No one in the world will trust you at first instance, simply because you are a Nigerian. Sad, but true. When the incidence of fraud starts to turn into a stigma which affects even the honest, law-abiding citizens of a country, then it's time to do something. And I believe that we are not powerless against it.

So my question is : What can we do, as individuals / corporate organisations to make our society one where hard-working people CAN make a living, and where trust and confidence are normal standards to live by, not strange and unusual "in this day and age". How can we get out of this mess? Through the EFCC? By ourselves? Or will Oyinbos help us out of this one?.

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Comments needed, please.

I believe the problem lies primarily on our government. How?
You see, where there is no means of proper identification anything goes because you don't know who you're dealing with.
Complete anonymity breeds and shields criminals, and cyberspace in Nigeria ensures you can stay completely anonymous.
Our National ID cards that are supposed to be promoted by the ministry of information and affairs so as to be linked with payment systems like mastercard/Visa/Paypal or any other trusted means of transaction isn't, it is treated as a reference within the country itself.
(Imagine your National ID number being forwarded to these economic institutions so when you input it, your name comes up, and if it is stolen, you go online/call to block it)
So yahoo boys can keep creating/buying Facebook profiles, Twitter profiles, LinkedIn profiles, etc to give the sense of openness and trust that our National ID's ought to provide..
I'm not saying it all boils down to our National ID, I'm just saying nothing is being done to promote the open identity of Nigerians who want to venture in businesses online.
Why would PayPal enable Nigerians to receive money when we don't have something similar to a social security number that ensures you pay tax or can be traced if there's a need to?
The government isn't giving the impression of openness either, when instead of assuring economic partners that there are honest hardworking Nigerians who are eager to trade their services online in Nigeria they are busy spreading tales of 419 crackdowns.. What would you think if you lived abroad and just kept hearing news of "Nigerian 419 crackdown", you'd assume that country is full of scammers and find it hard to believe or even a gamble to do business with anyone there.

how do combat internet fraud?
simple , remove the internet

how do combat internet fraud?
simple !


















remove the internet....

Lalasticlala let's have a wider reach for discussion on this topic