Abstract

Digital technology expanded rapidly across Awka South Local Government Area, the administrative capital of Anambra State, Nigeria, and with it came a corresponding rise in cybercrime. This paper reported a descriptive survey study of 380 residents that examined the prevalence of cybercrime, the factors that sustained it, and its consequences for personal safety, household finances and local economic development. Data were gathered through a structured questionnaire administered across five communities using multi-stage sampling, and analysed using frequency distributions, mean scores and chi-square tests at the 0.05 level of significance. Online fraud, mobile banking fraud and phishing were found to be the most common offences, sustained chiefly by weak law enforcement, unemployment and low digital literacy. A majority of respondents reported financial loss, business disruption and psychological distress as a result of victimisation, and awareness of protective digital practices remained low despite widespread recognition of the risk. All four hypotheses tested were supported: cybercrime prevalence was significantly related to personal safety (χ² = 82.47, p < .001), socio-economic development (χ² = 73.91, p < .001) and financial stability (χ² = 99.34, p < .001), and digital security awareness was significantly related to victimisation risk (χ² = 99.76, p < .001). The paper argued that cybercrime in Awka South was best understood as a structural, not merely technical, problem, and set out recommendations for enforcement, public education and economic intervention accordingly.