Master of Social Sciences in Criminology and Forensic Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Durban, 2017.The study examines the perception of youth on cybercrime which has been on the increase in recent time as a new nomenclature “yahoo-yahoo”. The breakthrough in technology comes with its attendance consequences which include cybercrime. The study therefore investigates the perceptions of youth on yahoo-yahoo, the factors predisposing youths to participation, gender peculiarities and the ways in which social media attitudes influence the phenomenon.
The theoretical orientations that guided the study were strain theory and Rational Choice Theory. The study was conducted in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti state capital. The study adopted qualitative research method as it empirical approach of inquiry. It purposively sampled the opinion of 20 youth with the aid of a semi-structured interview schedule.
Findings from the study shows that yahoo-yahoo a form of cybercrime is perceived to be something fraudulent and a crime perpetrated with the aid of internet. Factors such as poverty, unemployment, corruption, peer pressure, greediness, and get rich quick syndrome are responsible for why youth engage in yahoo-yahoo. It was also noted that females are also involved in the acts just as their male counterpart. However, the percentage of females involved in yahoo-yahoo is lower compared to the males. It was also discovered that the various social media display has influence youth involvement in yahoo-yahoo.
The study therefore concludes that social factors of unemployment, poverty and corruption are the major precipitators of cybercrime. Hence there is a need for a concerted effort by the government and other stakeholders to work assiduously at solving the various social problems bedeviling the nation and thereby combating the menace of cybercrime
