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Strategic business movements? The migration of online romance fraudsters from Nigeria to Ghana

Lazarus, S. ; Button, M. ; Garba, KH. ; Soares, AB. ; Hughes, M. (2025) — Journal of Economic Criminology

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100128 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   United Kingdom
Tags:   Cross Border Cybercrime, Cybercriminal Networks, Ghana, Law Enforcement, Nigeria Ghana Migration, Nigerian Offender Migration, Romance Scams, Sakawa, Scam Academies, West Africa, Yahoo Boys
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Synopsis

            
The study used an emic qualitative design examining Nigerian online-fraud migration to Ghana through law-enforcement perspectives. Participants were 12 male officers: five Ghanaian officers (two individual interviews and one three-person focus group) and seven Nigerian EFCC operatives consulted online. Nigerian cybercriminals relocate to Ghana to evade Nigeria's stronger enforcement and sustain operations across jurisdictional differences. Officers identified fear of prosecution, criminal-proceeds forfeiture, social-media exposure, Nigeria's BVN system, and Ghana's lack of a government database as migration drivers. Qualitative interviews and focus groups may introduce participant and researcher subjectivity.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The migration of Nigerian romance-fraud offenders to Ghana was described as previously unexamined in Ghanaian and Nigerian research. The authors also identify a need to move cybercrime research beyond its North Atlantic focus toward global contexts, including West Africa. The organisation of Ghana-based scam groups remains uncertain: officer accounts suggest institutionalisation, but the authors caution that these may be network-based, rent-driven cohabitation or mentorship arrangements rather than hierarchical organised-crime groups.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
The study used an emic qualitative design examining Nigerian online-fraud migration to Ghana through law-enforcement perspectives. Participants were 12 male officers: five Ghanaian officers (two individual interviews and one three-person focus group) and seven Nigerian EFCC operatives consulted online. Consultations were in English, transcribed and anonymised. Researchers manually applied open coding, focused coding, and thematic refinement, analysing semantic and latent relationships. Three team members reviewed themes and resolved coding discrepancies through discussion; reflexivity was used to consider researchers’ sociocultural influences.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
Qualitative interviews and focus groups may introduce participant and researcher subjectivity. The small sample, especially the limited number of law-enforcement officers, restricts generalisability. Although the team used reflexivity, researchers’ sociocultural backgrounds could have influenced interpretation. The authors state that broader and more diverse studies are needed.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Expand empirical research on cybercriminal migration trends and their economic and social impacts in Ghana. Study West African cybercrime beyond North Atlantic settings. Build academic–law-enforcement–policymaker collaboration to develop evidence-based interventions. Further examine whether cohabiting scam groups are organised hierarchies, rent-driven arrangements, or mentorship-based networks.

          

              

    
    

        
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