Cybercrime, the use of a computer network or internet to perform illegal activities such as stealing information or money from another computer network user has become a rampant issue in the world today. It is one of the setbacks a lot of people have faced from using the internet since it became available to almost all parts of the world.
It saddens my heart when cybercriminals justify their actions by putting the blames on the government for not providing jobs, little did they know that they can invest their knowledge into something meaningful than crime because any human in his or her right sense should know that stealing from people's labor is a terrible thing to do.
A few years ago, a cybercriminal was arrested. In his confession, he mentioned that it took him three years and more than $20,000 to learn hacking outside the country. He returned with the knowledge and started stealing from people online.
His confession got me confused and I kept asking myself why would someone acquire such a valuable skill like that just to put tears on people's faces. Aside from how valuable the skill can be, the money involved can be used to set up a good business in his country.
In some parts of the world, it is rare not to find one out of a hundred people who is not into cybercrime. It is so terrible that people involved even boast about it and due to the corruption in the law enforcement agencies, these guys walk around freely after paying huge fees after being arrested.
Some parents pat their children on the back for spending lavishly when they don't even know the source of their money. The corruption in the country and the support they get from their families has further strengthened many youth interest in cybercrime and this has also made it difficult for cybercrime to be tackled globally.
Greed and laziness are the biggest motivation behind cybercrimes, many youths out there don't want to work but want to live an extravagant lifestyle. They want to be the next youngest millionaire and aren't ready to go through a legal process to become successful.
Despite the number of cybercrime stories and warning from different internet network providers, banks, and even government agencies, it baffles me how people still become victims of what we are been warned to avoid. I came up with three reasons why people still fall scam to cybercrime and I believe people can learn from them.
While greed has motivated cybercriminals to steal from people's sweat, some people became victims because of greed as well. In many of the cybercrime cases I have read about, many of the victims are to be blamed for falling into traps.
About two years ago, a friend of mine was duped online. A guy contacted her online offering her an investment that double her capital in less than six hours.
She saw it as an opportunity and sent about $350 immediately to the person. Hours later, she couldn't reach the contact the person gave to her and it was then she realized that she messed up.
If not greed, how can a stranger approach you online, offered you a business and you invested without doing a pinch of findings just because the return is huge? Many of the bait these guys use are unrealistic offers and people still take it.
If we can't get rid of this greed of a thing, I doubt if cybercrime cases will reduce globally.
Not all cases have to do with greed and some people are just ignorant about what they are getting into.
Cybercriminals are always researching on how to upgrade how they operate and before a particular style of their operations gets exposed, a lot of people do ignorantly fall scam of it.
Phishing sites for instance were unknown to many, some people ignorantly checked links out of curiosity and it became a huge problem for them. There are lots of cloned websites and even celebrity accounts out there which are traps people ignorantly walk into.
I almost became a victim of a cloned church website, it only took me a few minutes of reasoning to know but someone who doesn't know the difference between a cloned site and an original one can ignorantly pay money or even give out vital information to the cybercriminal using another person identity for their illegal job.
The act of negligence has caused people a lot of things and I see no reason why anyone should ignore even the slightest changes that have to do with their online activities.
In 2021, I got a code and a message that indicates that someone was trying to use my debit card to pay for an online transaction. I didn't know who and rejected the transaction, I went as far as transferring the last penny in that account to another bank.
Rejecting the transaction was enough to keep whoever it was away from my account but I didn't stop at that because I don't know what the person is capable of doing so I had to take more security measures to be sure that nothing happens to my money.
As long as it has to do with anything online, you can't be too sure of anything because the peak of your knowledge might be the foundation of the unknown person behind the computer screen trying to steal from you.
Every unusual thing you notice about your bank account, crypto wallet, social platform account, and any other online-related stuff shouldn't be taken lightly.
A lot of people have never been a victim of cybercrime not because they are perfect but because they are doing a few things many of the victims are doing.
Be careful with the kind of information you put or share online: Giving your information at the request of it by anyone online can be very disastrous and even when it has to do with a trusted website, you have to always check that you are at the right place doing the right thing.
Passwords are secret and should be personal, repetition of the same password for multiple online activities is dangerous: A lot of people are fond of using one password for different social accounts which makes it easy for them to be victims. Every online activity you do should always have a different unique password, you always write them offline if you might forget them.
Cultivate the habit of logging out when you share your device with people: This might not sound like much but it means a lot, not logging out gives the people you share device with the easy access to your accounts.
Device means to keep you safe with the vulnerable things you do online: I use to claim airdrops when I got into the crypto space and when someone educated me about the harm that might accompany some airdrops, I created a separate crypto wallet for claiming airdrops just to be sure that I don't lose all I have while trying to get more. We all know that thing we are doing online that can expose us to am so it is best when we developed a means to protect ourselves.
The weekend engagement challenge comes up every weekend on Hive. @Galenkp, the creator of the community gives various topics to choose from and it is always fun participating.
Feel free to check this weekend engagement and choose one to write about.
