NiRA establishes law enforcement desk to tackle domain name abusers

Following the rise of Ponzi schemes, and the attendant Internet abuses in the country, the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), said it has now established a ‘Law Enforcement Desk’ to handle complaints emanating from domain name related issues.
Sunday Folayan, president of NiRA, who dropped the hint, frowned at how Nigerians were being defrauded by various forms of Ponzi schemes and cautioned that fraudsters are operating under various names and across various platforms.
He explained that “A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation where payment to its initial investors is from the payment made by new investors and not from profit earned through any legitimate sources.”
He added that “many have fallen victim. These schemes have impoverished more people than they claim to have helped. You will think that Nigerians would be fed up with the various Ponzi schemes, but no! Apparently these scammers are feeding on the greed of the people and the poor economic situation, to lure more victims.
“Whereas the Federal Government of Nigeria has taken bold steps to draw the attention of Nigerians to these scams and has warned Nigerians not to ‘invest’ or get involved. It appears the ‘returns on investment’ is too alluring for some.
“Recently, innocent people’s contact details (such as Phone and Email) are been used as administrative contacts for these schemes. “The victims of the identity theft only get to know when defrauded victims start to call, demanding for payments. Several people have received threatening phone calls, regarding their fate if they don’t pay up,” the NiRA President added.
It will be recalled that Nigerians have encountered horrible experiences on this matter as some give narrative of the benefits derived from the scheme, while others are lamenting because of their loses. Folayan underscored that NiRA has taken concrete steps to assist law enforcement agencies to tackle the menace.
“NiRA has established a Law Enforcement Desk to handle complaints on Domain Name abuse. It has also developed an Internal Procedural Process to manage and deal with such complaints received in conjunction with relevant law enforcement agencies and is cooperating fully with them, to stem the tide.
“If you discover any form of Internet abuse with .ng websites, please send an email to abuse@nira.org.ng. We will deal with it. Together we can make the Internet safe for us and our children”, he warned.