Africa-Press – Lesotho. The uproar of internet users towards unethical digital use and unaddressed cyber challenges seems to be a serious concern. These cyber challenges include scams, bullying and fake information among others.
In an interview with Informative Newspaper, A Victim of Cyber-crime Retšepile Mojonothoane disclosed that she was scammed beyond M7000 in September 2021 by two scammers who claimed to be forex traders: one from South
Africa whom she had met on Instagram and another from Eswatini whom they met through LinkedIn. They had both promised to trade for her. All she had to do
was deposit M2000 to SA and M1000 to the one in Eswatini. She had access to their websites and could track her profits. Her SA account had reached M290 000 and Eswatini account M25
000.
“The challenge arose when I had to withdraw the profits, one told me the money could not be
send to me if I did not have a tax number. The other one had claimed my account plan was too low for such a lot of money that I had to upgrade and to upgrade,
God forbid! I had to send about M10 000! I began doubting but since I had wanted the profit I sourced the tax clearance fee which was said to be $300.
Immediately after I settled the balance, they blocked me from their system,” she revealed. “In the beginning of 2022, I tried getting hold of them but alas to no avail.
I went through hell after these two incidents: I was depressed, always sleeping, emotionally drained, always crying and became unproductive in my daily routine.
I am not healed at all and still trying to recover from these two scams,” she further disclosed. A cyber stalking victim Moliehi Tako fell prey to a man from a dating side she joined in pursuit
of a romantic relationship. She fell in love with a certain man who claimed to be from Germany. Their love affair had gone for fifteen months when this man
just disappeared. She declared that she had invested her emotions and had already imagined getting married and living abroad. “I was very heart broken
and now have trust issues, I will never again join the dating sites or fall in love with someone I meet on social media platforms,” Tako exclaimed. Global
Foundation for Cyber Studies and Research, Researcher who specializes in Cyber Psychology, Cyber Mental Health, and Cyber Disorders Rethabile Tšephe indicated
that though the internet has a good side, it also has a dark side to it, its characteristics of low cost, anonymous nature, and an option of filters has
given cyber criminals an upper hand to keep track of peoples’ activities particularly those done on social media platforms such as, Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram. “I have come to learn that Lesotho does not have a cyber education program with the objective to build awareness on issues surrounding social media.
Although social media may seem fun, appealing, or convenient, different cybercrimes namely: cyber stalking, cyber bullying, harassment, and human trafficking exist on it.
This is created by posting personal details and professional achievements,” she highlighted. “Cyber criminals keep track of your needs, wants, achievements, what makes you happy and the
lack thereof. Now, as we know in the real world, stalking for example is not an easy thing to do, because once you realize you are being stalked, interventions
are close by as opposed to cyberstalking where a person can create a fake account, send you a friend request and just like that have access to your life,” Tšephe further opined.
Internet Society Lesotho Chapter Member, Computer Forensics and Cyber Security Specialist and Lecturer at Botho University ’Mamoqenelo Morolong said in order for internet
users to be safe online, they have to answer why they are online and upon answering why, it is important to understand how to use social media without
harming other people or without being harmed, hence to be safe, users should always be careful of what they post, comment on and like. She argued that it is
also important to sieve online information. Morolong further revealed that it is not easy to differentiate legit and fake news but one has to look out for things like: grammar and spelling errors, source of
information, though with online media houses, it becomes difficult to verify the credibility but users should take time before sharing and rational thinking
should be involved not emotional thinking. That truthful information will always be organized, well formatted and written in a respectful tone. Moreover,
she added that fact checking is important: people can fact check their sources with fact check Africa or fact check AFP2. On the issue of holding perpetrators accountable, she disclosed that in some countries, there
are policies governing cyberbullying and cyber-crime, so in countries where there are no laws or policies governing these issues, it becomes difficult to
hold perpetrators accountable. “I think one of the important solutions is to embark on the extensive digital literacy to the journalists as they are the ones passing information to the public.
On the other hand, the government should work in collaboration with industry and academic institutions to curb the rate of these cyber challenges. Digital
literacy is very crucial: collaboration with Non-Governmental Organizations such as Internet Society Lesotho Chapter and others in coming up with informed
laws governing cyber bullying and digital content dissemination by media houses is very important,” she concluded. According to The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Cyber psychology & Well-being study that was
conducted in July 2021 by Rani Sheilagh Dunn, Marvin Dadischeck and Rethabile Tsephe for Global Foundation for Cyber Studies and Research: In Lesotho,
Internet penetration stood at 44% of the total population, with 946,300 internet users in 2020. This showed an increase of 84,000 or +9.8% between 2O19
and 2O2O. However, while digital penetration is on the rise, there is almost no knowledge of cyber psychology, nor are there implementation of digital well-being or cyber education
programmes in Lesotho. Sadly, as a result, cybercrime is thriving. The digital landscape in Lesotho is suffering and as such opportunities are potentially
limited. Violation of human rights, including crimes against children, woman and men or extreme acts of violence, bullying, rape and abuse circulate on
social media. Victims are further traumatized in these digital spaces and trauma spreads to anyone who has intentionally or unintentionally viewed these disturbing images online.
There are also ongoing incidents of cyberbullying, cyberstalking and scams. Unfortunately, due to limited resources and lack of cyber education and infrastructure, these issues remain unaddressed.
More so, with the absence of cyber psychology studies and research in Lesotho, data related to these activities is minimal and inconclusive. As a result,
Police task teams and the National Security Service (NSS) are unable to carry out extensive investigations to identify perpetrators of these crimes. Additionally, no appropriate framework yet exists to provide protection,
support or treatment. Reports of unethical digital use and unaddressed cyber challenges in Lesotho is a serious call for concern. From cyberbullying to social networking to digital identity, each year Safer
Internet Day (SID) aims to raise awareness of emerging online issues and current concerns. SID is an European Union (EU) initiative with a mission to make the Internet a better place for children and young people.
It comprises a partnership of four leading organizations under the coordination of the Department of Justice in Ireland. It is promoted by the Webwise internet safety
initiative of the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST), part of the Department of Education, and aims to educate and raise awareness about protecting children online, so that
they can responsibly enjoy the benefits of the internet, without compromising their safety and privacy. According to UNICEF 2018 report: children represent over 25% of the world’s population and
being online is an important part of their lives. It is estimated that approximately one billion children were using the internet in 2018 and this number has surged during the COVID pandemic.
A sampled 2021 report from the Anti-Bullying Centre states that 28% of children have been the target of cyberbullying, while half of the children sampled were reported to have seen others being cyberbullied. Irish figures are one of the highest in Europe, followed by Germany and Italy.
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