A large percentage – 65% – of the population works in the informal sector. The social context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria helps explain how it presents opportunities to fraudsters. It’s important to understand how cybercriminals adapt to changing circumstances and what strategies they use, so that more harm can be prevented.

I’ve called their strategies “COVID-419” – a term combining the names of the coronavirus disease and section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act, which deals with fraud. I found that lack of clearly defined parameters and beneficiaries of Nigeria’s palliative schemes created loopholes for cybercriminals. I also received examples of fraud schemes from a professional WhatsApp group and from students of criminology. My data came from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigerian Police and the Central Bank of Nigeria. My research explored which government policies had created opportunities for fraud, what fraud strategies were used, and how this victimisation could be prevented.

I undertook a study to examine how COVID-19-induced interventions in Nigeria had been exploited by criminals.

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