Ola Olukoyede, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), described a shocking incident involving a 17-year-old who successfully hacked into his personal computer and bank account while being questioned at his office in Lagos, during a discussion with editors at the EFCC Headquarters in Jabi, Abuja, last Tuesday. 

Olukoyede narrated the incident, stating, “I brought into my Lagos office a seventeen-year-old boy who is studying History and Anthropology. He is in the 200 level. He is not doing anything science-related. The guy sat in my office in Lagos and demonstrated some things to me on my laptop. He asked for my number, I gave him my number and through my number, he got my BVN. He then mentioned the name of my account number to me at the bank. I didn’t tell him anything.”

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Olukoyede expressed worry about the consequences of such behaviour and stressed the necessity for prevention efforts to prevent youth from committing cybercrimes, recognising the potential for criminal activity as well as its intrinsic illegality. He emphasised how crucial it is to step in and change their course.

In reference to the penalties for juvenile cybercrimes, Olukoyede said, “We plead for light sentences so that we can reorientate them and that’s part of what we’re doing. What joy will I derive from sending a 17-year-old boy to jail? You have destroyed his future. You have destroyed his career. Sometimes they give them options of fines and all of that conviction, so we bring them in, lecture them and talk to them.”

Olukoyede disclosed, “He has two younger ones,” which provided additional insight into the boy’s family circumstances following the event. JSS2 contains one, while SSS2 contains the other. He is in charge of providing for his parents’ food and covering his younger siblings’ tuition.

Olukoyede responded by promising to pay for the boy’s education provided he stopped his illegal activities. He also asked for help with the siblings’ schooling.

This revelation is consistent with what Olukoyede has said in the past on the EFCC’s strategy for rehabilitating convicted online scammers with lighter terms, which aims to keep young people from committing cybercrime and save them the shame of being called “ex-convicts.”

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