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

The impact of fraud on victims is very important as it is similar to theimpact of other crimes on those affected. Victim’s reaction to fraud differs:victims sometimes loose trust in their own judgment and also they losetrust in others; the victim feels a sense of betrayal especially if theperpetrator(s) is someone they know. Also, due to fear of criticism, theysometimes hesitate to tell family members, friends or colleagues about theirvictimization. Fraud can destroy victims’ financial security; sometimes that ofloved 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 experienceof this kind. This study investigates the factors that determine how fraud victimsreact in Covenant University Community, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. Thesnowball sampling technique was adopted to select 202 undergraduates ofCovenant University, who have been defrauded in one form or the other. Thesurvey questionnaire instrument of data collection was used to elicit responsesfrom the respondents. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistical tools.Findings show that age, sex, level of education, marital status and employmentstatus have significant relationship with victim’s willingness to report whendefrauded. It is recommended that public enlightenment programmes beestablished to educate the masses on the positive outcome of reporting fraud byvictims, thereby building a knowledgeable economy to tackle fraud perpetration.Keywords- Fraud Victims, Crime P revention, Kn owl e d g e Ec o n om