Fraud Victims’ Reaction and Crime Prevention in Nigeria: The Role of a Knowledge Economy

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