A couple of months ago, I attended a round table conference at one of the Newspaper houses in Nigeria. It was about Internet crime and pornography. I'm sure most of us reading this piece have heard of advance fee fraud, a.k.a. 419. Well, this became the major topic of discussion. Pornograhy didn't seem like an alarming issue at that time.

Represenatatives from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were present to tell us how they were doing a good job arresting '419' offenders. Some came up with the question, "What is being done to prevent Internet Crime?" and really, there was no answer.

In my contribution as the 'Internet Expert', I summarised in lay man's terms how it is possible to track down 419 letters on the Internet. If they know you can catch them there'll be a reduction in the number of people partaking in such crimes.

At the end of the conference we all shook hands and had lunch. Back at my office I wondered, "What impact have I made today? What am I doing to stop Internet Crime?"

Of course, I realised quickly that I can't stop Internet crime. But, I can help reduce it. After about a week, I came up with an Idea. In another two days or so, I set up a website called "MAKE MONEY LEGALLY ONLINE". It's at http://www.makemoneylegallyonline.com

The purpose of the site is to educate Nigerians on the possibilties and realities of making money via the Internet without breaking the law. The site contains articles, tutorials and links to resources for those bold enough to 'take a step into the unknown'.

The feedback has been encouraging. People asked a lot of questions. I had to, infact, go back to the draiwing board to redesign delivery of tutorials on the site. I'm still working on that sha.

Here's a sample article from the site

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How does one make money online in Nigeria?(1)

I’ll be frank with you. It is almost impossible to start anything online in Nigeria. I’m not trying to scare you. It’s just the truth. It took me about a year and a half to set up my first online business. It took another six months to cash my first cheque. I’ll share the story with u.

Doing business online does not always mean selling goods or services. And it definitely doesn’t mean scamming people out of their money. Online businesses like ebay and amazon.com are really big. People who run them don’t work from home. What we are talking about here is staying at home and making a honest leaving online. A lot of people think it’s not possible. I’ve been able to prove them wrong. Not without challenges of course.

Some say you do not need a website to make money online. I say you do. My first challenge was getting my own website. I needed to pay for a domain name and a hosting account. Earlier, I had tried running a site through a resseller located in England because I did not have the means to pay for the service, though I had the money. The resseller paid for a domain name and a hosting account for me. Maintaining and updating my site was frustrating. I could not set up needed features without having to wait a week or two for the reseller.

Read the rest of this article at http://tinyurl.com/hu3cv