Fraud Victims’ Reaction and Crime Prevention in Nigeria: The Role of a Knowledge Economy
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Fraud has been in existence throughout history. A
combination of the social and economic factors such as age,
gender, sex, income and marital status have been identified by
many scholars to affect the perpetrators choice of victimization to
a large extent. The impact of fraud on victims is very important
as it is similar to the impact of other crimes on those affected.
Victim’s reaction to fraud differs; victims sometimes loose trust
in their own judgment and also they lose trust in others, the
victim feels a sense of betrayal especially if the perpetrator(s) is
someone they know. Also due to fear of criticism, they sometimes
hesitate to tell family members, friends or colleagues about their
victimization. Fraud can destroy victims financial security,
sometimes that of loved ones. However, not everyone has the
same reaction, for some people, the reaction may even be delayed
for some days, weeks or even months, recovering from fraud can
be a difficult experience after a personal experience of this kind.
This study investigates the factors that determine how fraud
victims react in Covenant University Community of Ota, Ogun
State, Nigeria. The snowball sampling technique was adopted to
select 203 persons who have been defrauded in one form or the
other. The survey questionnaire instrument of data collection was
used to elicit responses from the respondents. Data were analysed
with descriptive statistical tools. Findings show that age, sex, level
of education, marital status and employment status have
significant relationship with victim’s willingness to report when
defrauded. It is recommended that public enlightenment
programmes be established to educate the masses on the positive
outcome of reporting fraud by victims thereby building a
knowledgeable economy to tackle fraud perpetration.
Keywords
HM Sociology