Security in Benin : All-out war on cybercriminals

Near 1000 cybercriminals have since been arrested 2016. And the war is not over yet.

Police officer deposited in prison for cybercrime : This is a sign that now the fight in Benin against this global phenomenon is even affecting unsuspected sectors. Ce policier fait partie d’un groupe de neuf individus appréhendés à Cotonou et présentés le 4 November 2021 à Porto-Novo au procureur 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 what “quiconque a procédé à la falsification de documents informatisés, whatever their form, likely to cause harm to others, est puni d’un emprisonnement d’un an à cinq ans et d’une amende de deux millions de francs CFA à vingt millions.” Cette loi a été complétée par le Code du numérique qui est un outil particulièrement répressif.

Despite this, cybercriminals always had the wind in their sails until the Central Office for the Suppression of Cybercrime was set up (Ocrc) 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 approximately 600 people who have been apprehended in this way in the past three years. 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