Pattern of Cybercrime Awareness in Imo State, Nigeria: An Empirical Assessment

Using questionnaire, and In-depth Interview, data were collected from 1,031 staff and students of selected tertiary institutions in Imo State, Nigeria in order to evaluate the pattern of public awareness of cybercrime. It was found that (1)the level cybercrime awareness was very high(N=915; 89%); (2)the knowledge of cybercrime menace appeared very superficial because majority (78%; N=804) of the respondents tend to be only informed of computer-related/assisted category of cybercrime; while as low as 22% (227) were aware of only computer-focused cybercrime categories; (3)cybercrime awareness appeared to be gender sensitive in the sense that more males (91%; N=347) than females respondents (88%; N=572) tend to be aware of cybercrime; (4)there seems to be a positive relationship between level of education and awareness of cybercrime- in the sense that the highly educated Internet users tend to be more informed (N=332; 92%) about online criminal activities that the lowly educated ones (N=583; 87%); and (5)the level of cybercrime awareness increases (N=305; 97%) as Internet users get older. It was recommended that more effective and holistic cybercrime awareness campaigns, targeted more on the women and children, should be embarked upon by the stakeholders