How cybercriminals operate in Africa?
Ivory Coast “coupé-decalé” Vs Nigeria 419
Unknown to the African public sphere a fears ago,cybercrime has now become a plague that tarnishes the image of the internet and some countries such as Ivory Coast and Nigeria. The advent of the Internet in people’s habits has shown a different kind of criminals : Cybercriminals. In countries like Nigeria, Ivory Coast, the phenomenon has reached such proportions that even the credibility of these countries has suffered. But who are these criminals of modern times?
Cybercrime can be defined as all crimes committed in cyberspace.More specifically,it is the set of crimes commited using a computer and the internet to steal a person's Identity or sell contraband or stalk victims or disrupt operations with malevolent programs.Those who practice it are called hackers or cyber criminals.Their victims are increasingly numerous.The statistics about it are embarrassing.In 2011, there were 3,000 complaints and denunciations, 300 arrests and 105 people charged invory Cost. But that's just the visible part of the iceberg. As you may have noticed,I put reports and complaints “together”. People report without filing claims because they feel ashamed to due to the way they are scammed. According to Ivorian police sources, , there were 980 denunciations in 2009 and 1766 in 2010.
Statistics have been increasing over years in the country,which makes some people say that Ivory Coast has become a Mecca for cybercriminals. That is,and indeed, it is not an exaggeration because within the matter of just a few years, Abidjan has positioned itself as the spearhead of West-african countries where cybercrime is raging.A few years ago the phenomenon was unknown to Ivorians. Or at least, only the specialists of this cybercrime and their victims had some knowledge about it. The population discovered this practice with the advent of the coupé-décalé (french) concept,a new concept promoted by young Ivorians who were just coming from their journey in Europe that were suspected of being fraudsters.
coupé-décalé (literally shifted-cut)comes largely from Africa and it is a dance that was born in 2003 in two places: in Ivory Coast and in the Ivorian community living in France at the moment.Its godfather, Stephane Amidou also known as Douk Saga, died in 2006. The movement was initially a hit in most African night clubs before spreading to the cities of France.
But over time, the concept has taken pretty different connotations:
definition of coupé (cut): To divide, separate. In Ivory Coast, this lingo means "ripped off".Example: "The Merchant of loincloths cut me (ripped me off)."
“scam (cut) and get away (shift)”,is a more proper understanding of the concept where the money scammed is usually “ burnt” in night clubs.This scam originated from the internet,causing a serious internet crime case in Ivory Coast.
Since then, the chatter has become the most widespread cybercrime practice in Ivory Coast.
Indeed, it is interesting to note that cybercriminals are ordinary crooks as crooks found all around the world. The only difference is that they use internet to achieve their goals. Their techniques are blackmail, jobs offers,the technique of the detective,credit card numbers theft, etc.. ".
The technique of blackmail seems to be the best known due to its recurrence; few years ago, she was the headlines of the Ivorian newpapers, featuring a senior accountant of the Forestry masturbating in front of a webcam. In fact, it is a technique where the fraudsters use the image of a woman or an actual woman who happens to be theirs accomplice. Under the guise of love, the latter performs obscene acts in front of the camera and asks the target to do the same. Put in confidence,the latter does not think twice before engaging in unsavory practices. What he does not know is that all the acts he perfoms on the webcam are saved automatically. Later, the scammer asks him for money.This way,he won’t post his pictures or videos on the web. The pitiful victim has to run accordingly to the instruction given by his crook. Except that the blackmails will never stop because the scammer will always ask money and may become even more greedy.
There are other methods such as jobs offers where the victim looking for a job gets his money tricked out , the lottery method where the victim who did believe she won the jackpot, must spend money to gain possession of his winnings, etc.. Thus cyber-scams have become the most widespread scams in African countries. No need to have advanced computer knowledge to realise such crimes . Just know how to use a computer and how to browse the Internet and …you have it all!
Besides, there are those who have perfect knowledge of computers and use them to defraud,the “masters”.Credit cards numbers thieves are a good example.
In Ivory Coast as well as in many African countries,the online banking security is very precarious: to make a purchase with a credit card, all you need is the code that is written behind it.Banks do not check the owner's name on the card.
They just check the expiration date and the number.Yet,the fraudsters create websites for sales online. When someone is interested in a proposed product then enters his credit card number and his personal information,the scammers save them up automatically. The other method is that they manage to convince some people to give them their credit card number while conversing via chat (instant messaging). In both cases,they get the credit card secret code,which gives them the opportunity to make any sort of transactions on behalf of the credit card owner, using any name…oh yes!a-n-y n-a-m-e.For this reason,African Banks contribute to the success of these scams.
Finally, the espionage method. There are people who go to posh cafes (apparently more reliable) to exchange their money into electronic money. What they did not know was that these places are a prime target for cyber criminals who go there and install keyloggers; keyloggers, are spywares that surreptously monitor the keystrokes of the computers they are installed on and send the information (specialized keystrokes on the computer that hosts and transmit them via the Internet) at an address where a hacker can exploit them. It can collect and transmit passwords,credit cards codes, etc.. Once in possession of all the needed information,the hacker can use it the way he wants.He can,engage in blackmails,impersonations,money extortions etc.. Worse,hecan go after entreprises.Nobody is immune from it. Even businesses are under attacks,particularly their servers. Many companies do not take precautions to secure their systems.Many large companies have large information portals with big leaks.With a successful attack on a serve, a cybercriminal can access all the information of those who have trusted these structures.But to inject such an attack,a hacker must be a “real hacker”,he must be knowledgeable in computer science, of course!
Internet usage precautions
Enough to infuse fear to all Internet users and turn them away from the web right. "To tell the truth ... No! . "There are simple techniques to avoiding falling into the trap of hackers. The first one is sensitization,which enables the adoption of reflexes that can protect against cybercriminals.In fact, many people unconsciously "allow" fraudsters to rip them off.
Investigations have shown that African firms tend to believe that computer security is a security tool assembly while it is not!It is unlike a concept.The best way for our companies to protect themselves from cybercrime attacks is, in my humble opinion ,acquire the necessary security concepts by hiring experts in cybercrime issues called hackers in order for them to be knowledgeable of their own securtity for they know what steps to take to secure their systems. Each computer system must have its security concept, that is to say suitable security material, equipments and softwares.For instance,it is required that companies know what they need, what are the solutions provided by hackers, not by security experts. Solutions from comingtheir own network intrusion tests.Certainly,Hackers do know what administrators know but inversely,what hackers know,administrators do not know.
As regards the internet users, it would be very very important for them to be wary of links that appear on Websites and which, when you click, refer to another page web.These websites represent the greatest risk of infection. "Never click a link that you can not read, that is obviously suspect, or simply do not click links at random... Ahem," warns one of my Teacher of computer security.
Another measure which I advocate, it is the authorization of the update that will allow the computer to be protected against any risks of infections.Computers are not protected against malicious infections unless their softwares are up-to-date;the same goes to antivirus softwares too: an antivirus software that is not regurlarly updated does not protect against current viruses.Internet users should imperatively have at least an anti-spyware software beside the antivirus because spywares have different ways of functioning than viruses, and are able for example to start a remote computer camera without the owner’s knowledge , and even record everything they do.Therefore, it is advisable to install anti-virus suites that address spywares too.
In addition, it is difficult to understand the individuals who choose passwords such as 1-2-3-4-5 or their own name, their spouse or their child’s name.That,I say it here and repeat it, is the kind of loopholes that fraudsters use very easily, either by guessing the password or using a designated software to crack it using an exhaustive and intensive search algorithm.The algorithm tries all possible combinations of letters and characters you may have used to create your password; this technique,very well known in the computer environment, is called in "Brute-Force Attack”(Most Secure Password Ever). The cracking is made easy with what is called a Brute-Force dictionary Attack,in which the hacker edifies beforehand,a list of words or numbers or expressions commonly used by users (...). The risk is that whoever manages to gain access so easily to the mailbox of any user, has the ability to reset the password, preventing the legitimate user from accessing what is his.A good example is the incident that the Syrian President is facing now:in fact did not take much hacking prowess to access Bashar al-Assad’s email account, an account that was protected with the world's second weakest password: 12345. because his password was 1-2-3-4-5;as much care which, if followed, can shelter from hackers and other fraudsters. But what we must remember is that what makes Internet users potential victims of cyber criminals,is their greed,their naivety,as well as their carelessness but mostly their lack of awareness. And that is where the role of African governments should begin.
The direct impact is that dishonest individuals are getting richer at the expense of others. They enter the privacy of others without their permission. The consequence is that this tarnishes the image of countries like Ivory Coast and Nigeria. Some payment sites have even "blacklisted" Nigeria (for more information click here!) and Ivory Coast. In other words, they have deleted these countries from their list of countries likely to have customers in their files in order to protect the security of their users. Fortunately,with many countries having recognized the phenomenon,are already busy taking taking more or less comprehensive measurements to put an end to the plague or at least decrease its impact.
What are the steps taken by the State of Côte d'Ivoire for example to fight against this phenomenon?
At first, a new law was recently adopted in the country that clearly defines cybercrime.
A second law is based on the directive of the UEMOA and ECOWAS Convention on Cybercrime. Besides,there are complementary laws inspired from the ECOWAS and UEMOA additional laws on the protection of personal data, security of networks and information systems. With all the arrangements made, it is clear that the country will be able to act more effectively against cybercrime.Thus, even if the fight against online security concerns is still idling in Ivory Coast,it is clear that the current measurements will help discourage the criminals who know that hence, their actions will not only be traceable but also severely punished by the law.
If hardly, African countries address the issue of cybercrime, it is hard to blame them given the priorities that each country presents, food self-sufficiency being the first;In addition to the economic concerns,are the problems related to education,social security and whatnot,which,already are problematical.One can even wonder what would be the use of any discussion on computer crime insofar as even the tool (computer) remains unknown to most of the masses? It would be like looking for some hair on a shaved head wouldn’t it? …mmm…not necessarily! A saying goes that one should not wait to see plague before he vaccines himself against it.Prevention has always been better than cure ; is the example of our neighbours , Nigeria and Ivory Coast,not a good enough lesson to put us on a war footing? Nowadays, there is a high-speed revolution of technology and science and, with today's globalization, there is really no time for sleep,we have to wake up!
