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NeFF to begin prosecution of cyber criminals next year

By Benjamin Alade
21 December 2016   |   4:57 am
When the Cyber-Crime Prohibition Act 2015 becomes fully operational in 2017, it will enable government fight fraudsters and cyber criminals in more aggressive manner ...

cybercriminals

When the Cyber-Crime Prohibition Act 2015 becomes fully operational in 2017, it will enable government fight fraudsters and cyber criminals in more aggressive manner, Chairman, Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), Dipo Fatokun, has said.

The Act is an elaborate policy, which protects Nigerians from scammers who use the Internet to defraud unsuspecting individual and organisations. It also provides for the prohibition, prevention, detection, response, investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes; and for other related matters.

NeFF was set up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the lender of last resort, to enable information sharing and knowledge exchange among key stakeholders

Speaking at the end of the year dinner in Lagos over the weekend, Fatokun, who is also the Director, Banking and Payments System, CBN, said the forum also intends to operationalise the dedicated e-payment and card crime unit in the Nigerian Police Force, which is going to help in apprehending and prosecuting fraudsters.

He noted that NeFF plans to organise workshops that will highlight the challenges inherent in the Act, and its possible effect on e-commerce and use the recommendations to engage the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Office of the National Security Adviser, NSO, to review certain aspects that could affect the effective operation of the Act.

According to him, “fraud is moving from the regulated areas to the unregulated areas, and we must admit the fact that it cannot be eliminated. Most of the circulars issued by the Forum are applicable to the deposit money banks, and other financial institutions like the micro finance banks; mortgage banks are not really involved in it.

“Because the unregulated are not members of the forum, some of the circulars issued do not apply to them, so fraudsters are migrating to their customers. Hence the forum intends to look at that chain to ensure that they are also protected,” he said.

In his presentation titled: ‘Disruptive technology and future of secured payments,” Chief Strategy Officer and Cyber Risk Services Leader, Deloitte West Africa, Tope Aladenusi, noted that technology has changed the business landscape with the proliferation of different e-payment platforms requiring proactive actions by stakeholders to track potential frauds.

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