RT Article
T1 Birds of a feather flock together: the Nigerian cyber fraudsters (yahoo boys) and hip hop artists
JF Criminology, criminal justice, law & society
VO 19
IS 2
SP 63
OP 80
A1 Lazarus, Suleman Ibrahim
LA English
YR 2018
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1580477097
AB This study sets out to examine the ways Nigerian cyber-fraudsters (Yahoo-Boys) are represented in hip-hop music. The empirical basis of this article is lyrics from 18 hip-hop artists, which were subjected to a directed approach to qualitative content analysis and coded based on the moral disengagement mechanisms proposed by Bandura (1999). While results revealed that the ethics of Yahoo-Boys, as expressed by musicians, embody a range of moral disengagement mechanisms, they also shed light on the motives for the Nigerian cybercriminals' actions. Further analysis revealed additional findings: “glamorization/de-glamorization of cyber-fraud” and “sex-roles-and-cultures”. Having operatedwithin the constraint of what is currently available (a small sample size), this article has drawn attention to the notion that Yahoo-Boys and some musicians may be “birds of a feather.” Secondly, it has exposed a “hunter-and-anteloperelationship” between Yahoo-Boys and their victims. Thirdly, it has also highlighted that some ethos of law-abiding citizens is central to Yahoo-Boys’ moral enterprise. Yahoo-Boys, therefore, represent reflections of society. Arguably, given that Yahoo-Boys and singers are connected, and the oratory messages of singers may attract more followers than questioners, this study illuminates the cultural dimensions of cyber-fraud that emanate from Nigeria. In particular,insights from this study suggest that cyber-fraud researchers might look beyond traditional data sources (e.g., cyberfraud statistics) for the empirical traces of “culture in action” that render fraudulently practices acceptable career paths
K1 Youth culture and popular music
K1 Yahoo boys and cyber criminology
K1 Neutralization Techniques
K1 Advance fee fraud and organised crime
K1 Moral disengagement mechanisms
K1 Glamorization of cybercrime
K1 Sex roles
K1 Victims of romance scam
K1 Cyber psychology