Suleman Lazarus

This Brief Report highlights how football (i.e. soccer) dreams are weaponized to traffic youth within West Africa. Framed as an athletic opportunity, the operation exploited the Economic Community of West African States’ visa-free protocols, digital platforms, and the powerful appeal of sport-based mobility. Victims were confined, stripped of documentation, and coerced into soliciting funds from family members, with their phones repurposed to perpetrate further acts of fraud. While trafficking for forced criminality has gained visibility in Southeast Asia, this case marks a critical yet underexplored intra-African iteration, shaped by the symbolic economy of football. It challenges siloed policy frameworks that treat sport aspiration and cybercrime in West Africa as separate domains. POLICY CONTRIBUTION (UN SDG 16) By exposing how sport-linked dreams are weaponized to exploit youth, this report contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 16: promoting just, peaceful, and inclusive societies. It calls for stronger regional coordination and targeted awareness campaigns across the sport and youth sectors.

I write from the dual position of witness and analyst, using autoethnography to examine a scholar-targeted form of social engineering. In this piece, I recount a disturbing real-world incident in which I was targeted using the tragic story of a pregnant British woman allegedly murdered in a hotel in Ghana by a scammer. The scammers baited me, mimicking academic language, citing published work, and deploying emotionally charged narratives to elicit trust and ethical engagement. From this dual role, I introduce two emergent constructs ("scholar-baiting" and "document staging") to describe how epistemic trust and narrative craft are exploited in academic-facing fraud. Scholar-baiting is a sub-genre of spear phishing, defined as a narrative-based form of deception. Document staging, on the other hand, is a dramaturgical tactic in which realistic artefacts are embedded to simulate plausibility and suppress suspicion. I further theorise emotional enmeshment and symbolic entrapment as emerging risks for scholars whose work centres on harm, justice, and vulnerability. I conclude by proposing a framework of defensive scholarship that repositions cyber hygiene as a form of epistemic reflexivity. This framing recognises that scholars' ethical commitments to engagement and vulnerability can be exploited as attack surfaces. By framing scholars as high-trust nodes in digital ecosystems, I highlight a threat to academic labour that remains under-theorised but urgently relevant.

This article examines 100 convicted case files of cybercriminals, 80 of which concern online romance fraud. While all were prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria, many involve multiple offenses, including crypto investment fraud and hacking. The study provides critical insights into offender profiles and the criminal justice system’s approach to cybercrime enforcement. Drawing on the Space Transition Theory (STT), the study highlights the transient and intermittent nature of criminal activities in cyberspace. The findings reveal that most offenders are young males aged 18–28, predominantly university undergraduates or graduates. Notably, 96% of offenders hail from southern Nigeria, and 80% of crimes involve romance fraud. While perceptions of leniency in cybercrime punishments persist, 96% of offenders acted as primary perpetrators, with 2% serving as mules or accomplices and another 2% adopting dual roles. By relying on actual case files of online offenders rather than online profiles, which are often fake, this study offers unique insights that can inform future research and support evidence-based strategies to address cybercrime in Nigeria and beyond.

The article pioneers the examination of “hustle kingdoms”: illegal cybercrime training academies in West Africa. It explores these entities as innovative and adaptive institutions that emerge in response to systemic socio-economic strain. This article provides a unique analysis of hustle kingdoms by situating their emergence within the region’s socio-economic, cultural and technological trajectories. It does so by assessing the contemporary manifestation of these cybercrime academies with history in mind to understand the past that created them. It highlights how these cybercrime training academies have evolved from earlier forms, thereby showcasing a unique form of deviant innovation. It contributes to existing literature by addressing the critical gap in the scholarly discourse surrounding these entities and their historical evolution. Drawing on Merton’s strain theory, this historical scholarly endeavour examines how systemic barriers to education and employment have fostered deviant innovation, transforming hustle kingdoms from early fraud enterprises into sophisticated, global cybercrime networks. The analysis highlights the structural disparities that sustain their operations by juxtaposing these academies with conventional educational frameworks. The findings offer novel insights into the intersection of inequality, cultural narratives and technological adaptation, positioning hustle kingdoms as both products and catalysts of systemic strain.

This study examines how cybercriminals exploit deceptive recruitment tactics and digital platforms to entrap and exploit victims in human trafficking within the cybercrime context. It employs Migration and Transnationalism perspectives to elucidate the intersection of human trafficking and cybercrime operations in Cambodia. Using thematic analysis of victim testimonies, we identify six main themes: (1) Deception and Recruitment, (2) Manipulation and Control, (3) Exploitation and Forced Labor, (4) Trading and Movement, (5) Scamming Methods, and (6) Escape and Rescue. While the following analysis explores the victim’s first-hand experiences within these themes, it also reflects the accounts of other victims referenced in his story. Human traffickers enticed victims with fraudulent job offers and misleading promises, compelling them to pay significant recruitment fees. After recruitment, they manipulated victims through tactics such as visa deception and bribery at immigration to ensure compliance and control. They subjected victims to harsh working conditions, enforcing extended hours, unrealistic targets, and physical punishments for underperformance. Strict security measures and trading between companies and compounds further complicated escape efforts. Criminals trained victims to forge identities and exploit targets via social media, effectively turning them into online fraudsters. However, some managed to escape with assistance from NGOs, highlighting the vital role of organizational support in rescue operations. We highlight the need for targeted interventions and support for victims of such complex cybercrime enterprises.

This study used an emic approach to examine the dynamics of online romance fraud, focusing on the migration of offenders from Nigeria to Ghana. We collected data through qualitative methods, such as semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Ghanaian police officers and Nigerian law enforcement officers were consulted for their perspectives. Thematic analysis revealed key findings, including the migration patterns of Nigerian offenders to Ghana and the institutionalisation of scamming enterprises. These findings shed light on the transnational and structural factors driving online romance fraud in West Africa, highlighting both its global reach and the local mechanisms sustaining these criminal networks. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of regional and international cybercrime dynamics, offering valuable insights to inform policy and law enforcement strategies.

This qualitative research examines the phenomenon of online romance fraud, exploring it from contrasting perspectives. The study engaged two distinct groups of participants: (1) fraudsters actively involved in online romance scams (commonly referred to as “Sakawa Boys”) and (2) police officers with experience in investigating and policing internet crimes. We explore the usefulness of neutralization techniques in interpreting data within the cultural context of individuals’ subjective experiences. Thematic analysis of data reveals that both offenders and police officers employ certain neutralization techniques, such as denial of responsibility, condemnation of the condemners, and appeals to higher loyalties, to justify their conduct. In particular, online romance offenders invoke higher loyalties, rationalizing their actions as reparative justice for colonial exploitation and framing their fraud as a means of reclaiming wealth unjustly taken during colonial rule. The findings suggest that participants perceive the enduring legacy of colonialism as a key factor driving the production of cybercrime. This research contributes to the scant body of direct testimonies from romance fraud offenders, which are significantly rarer than those from police officers, providing valuable insights into this global phenomenon. Methodologically and theoretically, this research contributes to understanding the global phenomenon of scammers targeting individuals worldwide.

Cybercrime is a global threat affecting both public and private sectors. Business email compromise (BEC) is one of the most advanced and lucrative forms of cybercrime, exploiting vulnerabilities in corporate email systems to facilitate unauthorised financial transactions. Organisations worldwide suffer substantial losses from these attacks. This article explores the connection between Black Axe and BEC scams, providing insights into how public sector organisations can better combat these sophisticated criminal networks.

This article examines fifty case files of cybercriminals that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) convicted for online romance fraud. It profiles offenders and explores the value of the Space Transition Theory in understanding digital crimes. Through documentary analysis, the study identifies key patterns in victim demographics, fraudsters’ operational strategies, and offenders’ socioeconomic backgrounds. Findings reveal a high concentration of U.S. victims (56%) and a preference among offenders for Apple’s iPhone (58%). Most offenders presented themselves as Caucasian American males (46%) or military personnel (12%), with some adopting Caucasian European male identities (10%). Victim demographics show a pronounced gender disparity: 70% of offenders primarily targeted female victims, 14% targeted male victims, 10% reached both genders, and 6% did not specify the victims’ gender. The analysis also indicates that most offenders were university students (74%), with Facebook (46%) identified as the primary platform for these fraudulent activities. The study emphasizes the need for prevention strategies that genuinely consider the socioeconomic and political conditions that may make online fraud an appealing career option.

Citations signal the significance and impact of publication outputs, conferring prestige within an academic prestige economy. The longstanding academic mandate to ‘publish or perish’ has been married with the modern expectation to ‘demonstrate impact or perish,’ reflecting an evolution in scholarly priorities and imposing a ‘double burden’ on scholars, particularly on early-career researchers and marginalised voices. I examine factors influencing citation metrics through an autoethnographic lens, situating them within my subjective experiences and exploring their broader implications. Drawing on my research portfolio from 2016 to 2022, which focuses on Nigerian society, I discuss how research location and other contextual factors shape scholarly impact and citation metrics. Disparities in citation rates between Western and non-Western regions reflect unequal power, resources, and recognition distributions. I assess the interaction between citation metrics and the significance of my research portfolio, which includes five empirical and two conceptual peer-reviewed articles. While I reflect on my delayed recognition of these citation metrics and impact dynamics after earning my doctorate, I advocate for improved education on these factors in social science graduate curricula. Citations are not mere appendages: they are the lifeblood coursing through the veins of academia’s ecosystem.

We examine cryptocurrency fraud cases prosecuted by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). We considered the lens of the Space Transition Theory (STT) in exploring the dynamics of these digital crimes. Our data analysis reveals common types of fraud, including cryptocurrency investment schemes. The results show an exclusive male demographic (100%), with the majority under 30 years old and only a quarter possessing a degree, providing insights into the socio-demographic characteristics of cryptocurrency fraudsters. Additionally, while most fraudsters (55%) targeted victims in the United States, Bitcoin, leveraging blockchain technology, was the most commonly used method (46%) for cryptocurrency fraud. Our examination of the methods and mediums used for cryptocurrency fraud supports some aspects of STT, while others do not. We advocate for a multifaceted strategy that prioritises stringent regulation, implementation, and heightened scrutiny of digital currency ecosystems in Nigeria and beyond. This study contributes to the broader discourse on cybercrime prevention and enforcement by emphasising the novel methodological approach utilised.

Nomophobia (no-mobile-phone phobia) is the fear and anxiety of being without a mobile phone. This study pioneers the investigation of nomophobia in Afghanistan using the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q), addressing a crucial gap in the field. We collected statistical data from 754 undergraduate medical students, comprising men (56.50 %) and women (43.50 %), and analyzed the dimensions of nomophobia. While results revealed that all but two participants were nomophobic, they identified three significant dimensions affecting the level of nomophobia among participants: (a) gender, (b) age, and (c) marital status. The study's contributions are precious, given the peculiarity of Afghan political turmoil, security, and human rights issues, especially for women. For example, the study's data collection was abruptly halted in December 2022 due to the Taliban regime's decision to make it illegal for women to enroll in universities as students. Therefore, while examining the characteristics of nomophobia across societies is imperative, it is also vital to investigate what is true of one society, Afghanistan, at one point in time and space. The study concludes by emphasizing the need to broaden participants' scope in future studies to better understand the prevalence of nomophobia across broader societal contexts and forces.

I explored the relationship between the “Black Axe” Confraternity and cybercrime, with a particular emphasis on the structural dynamics of the Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes. I investigated whether a conventional hierarchical system governs the membership and remuneration for BEC roles as perpetrators by interviewing an accused “leader” of the “Black Axe” affiliated cybercriminal incarcerated in a prominent Western nation. I supplemented the analysis of interview data with insights from tapped phone records monitored by a law enforcement entity. I merged Actor-network theory and Social Network theory as analytical frameworks and thematically analyzed data to produce six overarching themes: (1) The fluidity of Structure and Adaptive Roles in BEC, (2) Challenges in Visualizing Criminal Networks, (3) Globalization and Transnational Dimensions, (4) Social and Cultural Influences, (5) Internal Cybersecurity Threats and Money Laundering, and (6) Remuneration and Influences of Cryptocurrency, casting a brighter light on the topic. Unlike traditional organized crime, BEC scammers have adopted a nonhierarchical model that is flexible and fluid. I found no evidence of a rigid hierarchy dictating positions and remuneration for BEC roles. Instead, I observed that cybercriminals involved in BEC activities functioned horizontally, promoting fluidity, maneuverability, collaboration, and specialization across various facets of their illicit pursuits. I also highlighted the cross-border links BEC offenders have with other criminal actors facilitated by Black Axe organizational machinery. My research adds value to the existing body of knowledge, utilizing a unique dataset comprising direct testimonies of a high-profile BEC offender affiliated with the ‘hard–to–access,’ Black Axe gang.

This article reviews an epochal change in international thinking about physical punishment of children from being a reasonable method of chastisement to one that is harmful to children and troubling to families. In addition, the article suggests shifts in thinking about physical punishment were originally pioneered as part and parcel of the dismantling of national laws granting fathers’ specific rights to admonish children under conventions of patria potestas. A comparative historical framework of analysis involving two case studies of Ireland and Ghana illustrates non-unilinear pathways of international convergence towards the prohibition of physical punishment. The comparative historical analysis highlights the 1930s and 1940s as an era when Ireland began to reject patria potestas and religious or judicial rulings which allowed for children to be given ‘a good beating’ in family and school settings. However, from the same period, Ghana is seen to experience Christian remonstrations not to ‘spare the rod’ leading to the ‘conventional’ tradition of ‘this is how we do it here’. Two case studies serve to illustrate that banning physical punishment was less controversial in Ireland where allied traditions of patria potestas and disciplinarian Christian beliefs had lost their moral hegemony than in Ghana where such beliefs still held influence. The article concludes overall that normative campaigns against physical punishment of children emanate from a coherent paradigm of family policy where childcare, education, and well-being of children are embedded as everyday societal responsibilities rather than privatised or patriarchal familial obligations. The coherent model offers an alternative moral hegemony to neo-liberal and Janus-faced conceptualisations of good or ‘intact’ families versus ‘broken’ or ‘troubled’ families.

While this article sets out to advance our knowledge about the characteristics of Nigerian cybercriminals (Yahoo-Boys), it is also the first study to explore the narratives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) officers concerning them. It appraises symbolic interactionist insights to consider the ways in which contextual factors and worldview may help to illuminate officers’ narratives of cybercriminals and the interpretations and implications of such accounts. Semi-structured interviews of forty frontline EFCC officers formed the empirical basis of this study and were subjected to a directed approach of qualitative content analysis. While prior studies, for example, indicated that only a group of cybercriminals deploy spiritual and magical powers to defraud victims (i.e. modus operandi), our data analysis extended this classification into more refined levels involving multiple features. In particular, analysis bifurcates cybercriminals and their operations based on three factors: [a] educational-attainment, [b] modus-operandi, and [c] networks-collaborators. Results also suggest that these cybercriminals and their operations are embedded in “masculinity-and-material-wealth”. These contributions thus have implications for a range of generally accepted viewpoints about these cybercriminals previously taken-for-granted. Since these criminals have victims all over the world, insights from our study may help various local and international agencies [a] to understand the actions/features of these two groups of cybercriminals better and develop more effective response strategies. [b] to appreciate the vulnerabilities of their victims better and develop more adequate support schemes. We also consider the limitations of social control agents’ narratives on criminals.

This is a theoretical treatment of the term "Sha Zhu Pan" (杀猪盘) in Chinese, which translates to “Pig-Butchering” in English. The article critically examines the propagation and validation of "Pig Butchering," an animal metaphor, and its implications for the dehumanisation of victims of online fraud across various discourses. The study provides background information about this type of fraud before investigating its theoretical foundations and linking its emergence to the dehumanisation of fraud victims. The analysis highlights the disparity between academic literature, subjected to rigorous peer-review processes, and sensationalised narratives prevalent in the media. While academic works subject "pig butchering" to critical scrutiny and refrain from endorsing derogatory terms to depict fraud victims, numerous media outlets employ this term uncritically, further worsening the predicament of these victims. "Pig butchering" is firmly rooted in the concept of dehumanisation, and this article underscores how language moulds perceptions of fraud and behaviour, extending to the development of preventive strategies. The role of law enforcement agencies in generating and disseminating materials is also a central theme, emphasising their responsibility as trusted sources of information. We suggest that these agencies should adopt non-victim shaming language to encourage victims to report crimes and alleviate the stigma attached to victimisation. Additionally, the article offers valuable cross-cultural insights by comparing metaphors from Chinese and Nigerian contexts. This comparative analysis enriches our comprehension of the global dimensions of online fraud and its cultural diversities, highlighting the substantial impact of language on perceptions and behaviours. We advocate for a departure from victim-blaming tendencies perpetuated by select media outlets, urging a more compassionate and accurate portrayal of those affected by online fraud. We, therefore, call for a more empathetic and accurate portrayal of individuals affected by online fraud, aligning with the broader objective of promoting understanding and support for these victims.

How do hip-hop songs produced from 2017 to 2023 depict and rationalize online fraud? This study examines the depiction of online fraudsters in thirty-three Nigerian hip-hop songs on nine popular streaming platforms such as Spotify, Deezer, iTunes, SoundCloud, Apple Music, and YouTube. Using a directed approach to qualitative content analysis, we coded lyrics based on the moral disengagement mechanism and core themes derived from existing literature. Our findings shed light on how songs (a) justify the fraudulent actions of online fraudsters, (b) blame and dehumanize victims of online romance fraud, (c) glamorize online fraud, and (d) provide insights into prevailing attitudes, indigenous linguistics, and worldviews regarding cybercrime victimization. Specifically, our analysis shows the presence of moral disengagement mechanisms, including "dehumanization," “minimizing own agency,” and "displacement of responsibility." Moreover, we identify core contextual themes pertinent to online fraud in the Nigerian context: (a) "cyber spiritualism" and (b) "the North-South divide." This research underscores the global influence of musicians whose songs are easily accessible on diverse music platforms in trivializing the plight of online fraud victims. We argue that these artists' persuasive messages not only downplay but also satirize the victims' predicaments, thus contributing to the cultural worldviews and dimensions of online fraud. We conclude by underscoring these songs' capacity to actualize, reshape, and actively engage with the narratives of glamorization, justification, spiritualism, colonial legacies, gender dynamics, and societal implications. We recommend that future research endeavors explore non-conventional data sources adept at capturing the intricate fabric of cultural attitudes and dynamics.

We aimed to identify the critical insights from empirical peer-reviewed studies on online romance fraud published between 2000 and 2021 through a systematic literature review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. The corpus of studies that met our inclusion criteria comprised twenty-six studies employing qualitative (n = 13), quantitative (n = 11), and mixed (n = 2) methods. Most studies focused on victims, with eight focusing on offenders and fewer investigating public perspectives. All the victim-focused studies relied on data from the Global North, except for Malaysia. Five offender-focused studies used online data available in the public domain, and three derived their data from West Africa. Our review highlights offenders' techniques to deceive and manipulate victims, as revealed in these studies, and highlights some limitations of offender- and victim-focused studies. The dominant framework used across the studies was found to be the “Scammers Persuasive Techniques Model.” While this framework provides a helpful way of considering the stages of victim involvement, it also faces some limitations, which we highlight. Our study reviews the current state of empirical knowledge on romance fraud and identifies certain gaps and biases in the literature. We argue there is a need for further research into online romance fraud to enhance our understanding of it both from the perspective of the offender as well as the experience of the victim. We also highlight the need for a more inclusive and greater range of regional and global diverse range of data sources and perspectives. Given the scale and impact of online romance fraud, we conclude that its study would benefit from a richer empirical engagement that recognizes it as both a regional and global phenomenon.

This article is about the manifestations of similarities between two seemingly distinct groups of Nigerians: cybercriminals and politicians. Which linguistic strategies do Twitter users use to express their opinions on cybercriminals and politicians? The study undertakes a qualitative analysis of ‘engaged’ tweets of an elite law enforcement agency in West Africa. We analyzed and coded over 100,000 ‘engaged’ tweets based on a component of mechanisms of moral disengagement (i.e., advantageous comparison), a linguistic device. The results reveal how respondents defend the actions of online fraudsters (“the deviant group”) by strategically comparing them to the wrongful acts of corrupt politicians (“the respectable group”). Similarly, the results show how respondents positioned this linguistic strategy to compare “the powerless group” (online fraudsters) and “the powerful group” (politicians) in society. Indeed, tweet responses suggest that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) generally looks downwards for culprits (i.e., online fraudsters) while ignoring fraudulent politicians. We conclude that the process by which some actions are interpreted as a crime compared to others is a moral enterprise.

Do men and women perceive cybercrime types differently? This article draws on the distinction between socio-economic and psychosocial cybercrime proposed by Lazarus (2019) to investigate whether men and women hold different perceptions of digital crimes across these two dimensions. Informed by the synergy between feminist theory and the Tripartite Cybercrime Framework (TCF), our survey examined respondents’ differential perceptions of socio-economic cybercrime (online fraud) and psychosocial cybercrime (cyberbullying, revenge porn, cyberstalking, online harassment) among men and women in the United Kingdom. The results revealed that women considered psychosocial cybercrime worse than men. Conversely, we found no differences between men and women with regard to socio-economic cybercrime. The article concludes that psychosocial cybercrimes are more gendered than socio-economic cybercrime, suggesting problems with the meaning of ‘cyber-enabled crimes’, and substantiating the synergy between the TCF and feminist perspectives.

How do tweets reflect the long-standing disparities between the northern and southern regions of Nigeria? This study presents a qualitative analysis of Twitter users' responses (n = 101,518) to the tweets of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) regarding the production and prosecution of cybercrime. The article uses postcolonial perspectives to shed light on the legacies of British colonial efforts in Nigeria, such as the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914. The results revealed significant discrepancies between Nigeria's northern and southern regions regarding cybercriminal arrest, conviction, and sentencing. Specifically, the results showed that the EFCC's criminalization of Southerners differs substantially from that of Northerners. The contemporary manifestation of inequalities concerning the production and prosecution of cybercrime on Twitter reflects long-standing contestations (e.g., economic, political, cultural, geological) between the northern and southern parts of Nigerian society. Therefore, since the North-South divide in present-day Nigeria originated from British colonization, colonialism is the base that shaped the superstructure comprising political, religious, historical, geological (e.g., crude oil), and economic factors. In turn, the article spotlights that regional differences in educational attainment, originating from differing experiences of Christianization and colonization, interact with regional disparities in the production of cybercrime. More research is required to better understand how these contextual disparities in society interact with the production and prosecution of cybercrime, given that Nigerian cybercriminals defraud victims all over the world.

We rarely acknowledge the achievements of doctoral candidates who fought with all they had but still lost the battle and dropped out – we know so little about what becomes of them. This reflective article is about the betrayals of PhD supervisors in one institution, the trauma and stigma of withdrawing from that institution, writing poetry as a coping mechanism and the triumph in completing a Thesis by Publication (TBP) in another institution. Thus, I build on Lesley Saunders’s idea about using poetry to operate on ‘a personal capacity’ in educational research. Accordingly, I present an original autoethnographic poem and other poetic artefacts as well as reflections to sharpen the sociological eye of my story. In it, I merge two different segments of experiences in poetry – trauma and triumph – to draw an image of my doctoral journey, in the moment and in retrospection. By doing so, I illuminate the struggles involved in becoming an independent researcher. I also encourage practitioners to conceive that their negative experiences in doing educational research can be transformed into an achievement depending on the stand they take when faced with it. Certainly, poor academic performance can be closely associated with abandoning doctoral studies, but that is not always the case. Therefore, it is my hope that this autoethnographic work may instill hope in doctoral candidates who are still in the struggle to find a voice.

This article is a theoretical treatment of the ways in which local worldviews on wealth acquisition give rise to contemporary manifestations of spirituality in cyberspace. It unpacks spiritual (occult) economies and wealth generation through a historical perspective. The article ‘devil advocates’ the ‘sainthood’ of claimed law-abiding citizens, by highlighting that the line dividing them and the Nigerian cybercriminals (Yahoo-Boys) is blurred with regards to the use of magical means for material ends. By doing so, the article also illustrates that the intersectionality of the spirit world and the acquisition of wealth (crime or otherwise) is connected with local epistemologies and worldviews, and its contemporaneity has social security benefits. Therefore, the view that the contemporary manifestations of spirituality in cyberspace signify a ‘new-danger’ and an ever-increasing outrage in the Nigerian society is misplaced. I conclude that if people believe all aspects of life are reflective of the spiritual world and determined by it, the spiritual realm, by implication, is the base of society, upon which sits the superstructure comprised of all aspects of life, especially wealth. Inferentially, this conceptual position that the spirit world is the base of society is an inversion of Orthodox Marxist’s theory of economic determinism.

This article is a theoretical treatment of feminist epistemology of crime, which advocates the centrality of gender as a theoretical starting point for the investigating of digital crimes. It does so by exploring the synergy between the feminist perspectives and the Tripartite Cybercrime Framework (TCF) (which argues that three possible factors motivate cybercrimes – socioeconomic, psychosocial, and geopolitical) to critique mainstream criminology and the meaning of the term “cybercrime”. Additionally, the article examines gender gaps in online harassment, cyber‐bullying, cyber‐fraud, revenge porn, and cyber‐stalking to demonstrate that who is victimised, why, and to what effect are the critical starting points for the analysis of the connections between gender and crimes. In turn, it uses the lens of intersectionality to acknowledge that, while conceptions of gender and crime interact, they intersect with other categories (e.g., sexuality) to provide additional layers of explanation. To nuance the utilitarian value of the synergy between the TCF and the feminist perspectives, the focus shifts to a recent case study (which compared socioeconomic and psychosocial cybercrimes). The article concludes that, while online and offline lives are inextricably intertwined, the victimisations in psychosocial cybercrimes may be more gendered than in socioeconomic cybercrimes. These contributions align the TCF to the feminist epistemology of crime in their attempt to move gender analysis of digital crimes “from margin to centre”.

While this article aims to explore the connections between citizenship and ‘race’, it is the first study to use fictional tools as a sociological resource in exemplifying the deviation between citizenship in principle and practice in an Austrian context. The study involves interviews with 73 Austrians from three ethnic/racial groups, which were subjected to a directed approach to qualitative content analysis and coded based on sentences from George Orwell’s fictional book, ‘Animal Farm’. By using fiction as a conceptual and analytical device, this article goes beyond the orthodox particulars of citizenship to expose the compressed entitlements of some racial/ethnic minorities. In particular, data analysis revealed two related and intertwined central themes: (a) “all animals are not equal or comrades”; and (b) “some animals are more equal than others”. All ‘animals’ may be equal in principle, whereas, in practice, their ‘race’ serves as a critical source of social (dis)advantage in the ‘animal kingdom’. Thus, since citizenship is a precondition for possessing certain rights that non-citizens are not granted, I argue that citizenship cannot only be judged by whom it, in theory, excludes (i.e., non-citizens), but also by how it treats the included (i.e., citizens) on the basis of their ‘race’. I conclude that skin colour is a specific aspect of the hierarchy of citizenship in Austria, which reinforces that ‘some animals are more equal than others’.

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 operated within 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-antelope-relationship” 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., cyber-fraud statistics) for the empirical traces of “culture in action” that render fraudulently practices acceptable career paths for some Nigerian youths.

This thesis, which is based on six peer-reviewed publications, is a theoretical and qualitative treatment of the ways in which social and contextual factors serve as a resource for understanding the particularities of ‘cybercrime’ that emanates from Nigeria. The thesis illuminates how closer attention to Nigerian society aids the understanding of Nigerian cybercriminals (known as Yahoo Boys), their actions and what constitutes ‘cybercrime’ in a Nigerian context. ‘Cybercrime’ is used in everyday parlance as a simple acronym for all forms of crimes on the internet, whereas ‘cybercrime’ in a Nigerian context is rooted in socioeconomics and determined by it. In particular, the defrauding of victims for monetary benefit is the most significant theme that emerged from the analysis of Yahoo Boys. While all six publications are situated at the intersections of multiple fields of study, they all share a common endorsement of the constructionist/interpretivist position. The six published works comprise: [a] three conceptual publications; and [b] three empirical publications. The conceptual publications deconstruct the meanings of multiple taken-for-granted concepts in cybercrime scholarship and develop more robust conceptual lenses, namely: (1) ‘Digital Spiritualization’; (2) ‘The Tripartite Cybercrime Framework – TCF’; and (3) ‘The Synergy between Feminist Criminology and the TCF’. These new conceptual lenses represent the candidate’s contribution to developing theory in the field. Alongside this, the empirical section includes three sets of qualitative data, which include: (1) interviews with seventeen Nigerian parents; (2) lyrics from eighteen Nigerian musicians; and (3) interviews with forty Nigerian law enforcement officers. These diverse sources of qualitative data provide a more fully-developed understanding of ‘cybercrime’ in the Nigerian context (and elsewhere). All six-published works, while individually contributing to knowledge, collectively shed clearer light on the centrality of cultural context in the explanation of ‘cybercrime’.