How to become a ‘Yahoo boy’, a topic of interest to Nigerians?

‘Yahoo boys’, a general term to refer to internet swindlers and criminals in Nigeria, has become well known to both young and old in the country. This has also given the country a not so good reputation in the internet world, as the majority of legit online businesses are getting difficult for Nigerians to do.

Yahoo Boy, a term Known worldwide

Recently, my curiosity got the best of me. I went ahead and do a bit of research as regards the behavior of internet users on this topic online using Google Trends. Well, I was surprised.

The term ‘yahoo boy’ has a tangible search volume on google and that is understandable as many who do not have any idea what the term means, turn to the internet for answers. The term was searched for in many parts of the world, with related queries like ‘what is yahoo boy’ and ‘yahoo boy meaning’, coming majorly from the United States pointing to the popularity of this menace.

Growing Interest among Nigerians?

As expected the highest search volume for the term ‘yahoo boy’ comes from Nigeria.

However, when I looked further into the trends of this search term in Nigeria, I was surprised. It is quite unnerving to find out what was of utmost interest to most of those who search for the term ‘Yahoo boy’ in Nigeria. For example, a high volume of searches on Google was for “the richest yahoo boy in Nigeria”, “How to become a yahoo boy”, and “how to become a successful yahoo boy” coming up in the top five searches for the term, with up to 500% increase search rate in the past 12 months. If this surprises you, then you are not alone.

A further probe into the search trends and behavior in Nigeria to find out which cities in Nigeria have internet users searched for the term the most. As I expected Lagos leads the way followed by Port Harcourt and Abuja.

Nigeria Web Space and Scams

While it is true that Nigeria has one of the highest rates of internet fraud, the country is seeing an exponential increase in the development of its tech ecosystem with bright and innovative young individuals doing great and legit works on the internet.

However, what this article has examined has uncovered a gradual incremental interest in this menace of internet fraud called “Yahoo Yahoo”.