Fight against cybercriminals: OCRC more committed than ever

Near 1000 cybercriminals have since been arrested 2016. Et la lutte n’est pas encore terminée.

Reconnue comme la patronne des cybercriminels, elle a été arrêtée jeudi 23 février dernier à Yénawa, un quartier d’Akpakpa. C’est le signe que depuis quelques années la lutte au Bénin contre ce phénomène d’envergure mondiale est vraiment actée. Cette dame qui aide les cybercriminels à retirer leur butin après les opérations d’arnaque en plus d’une vingtaine de présumés cybercriminels tous de nationalité Nigériane arrêtés le vendredi 24 February 2023, à Djidjè, dans le 6e arrondissement de Cotonou font désormais partie des nouveaux clients de la Cour de répression des infractions économiques et du terrorisme. Cette juridiction d’exception créée par le président Talon a, depuis sa mise en place, vu défiler des centaines de personnes interpelées pour arnaque par voie électronique.

In fact, since 2016, about a thousand individuals have thus fallen into the cracks of the authorities in charge of the fight against cybercrime. Small country known for its calm has seen its reputation take a hit since the beginning of the years 2000 when young people discovered the possibility of scamming Europeans through the internet. Often cloning commercial websites or pretending to be just businessmen, they offer fictitious services to their prey. Once the money has been pocketed, they cover their tracks and disappear. Gradually, the methods of these young people who operated from cybercafés were refined.

The State began to take the phenomenon seriously by adopting, in 2011, the law on the fight against corruption. This has in its article 124 that "anyone who has falsified computerized documents, whatever their form, likely to cause harm to others, is punished by imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of two million CFA francs to twenty million. This law has been supplemented by the Digital Code, which is a particularly repressive tool.

Despite this, cybercriminals always had the wind in their sails until the Central Office for the Suppression of Cybercrime was set up (They have now fallen into the nets of the Court of Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism) printer living in Abomey-Calavi agrees, today, is the real armed arm of the government in the field. With a political will displayed by the authorities and according to certain official statistics, these are more than 600 personnes qui ont ainsi été appréhendées ces dernières années. This augurs well for the future of this fight, which seems to be an endless fight, as cybercriminals are so fertile in creativity..

Pierre MATCHOUDO