The film introduces us to three young people from Ghana who cannot find jobs, and their desperation pushes them to commit online fraud. For “Sakawa boys,” what is considered to be fraud in the West is just a way to use the available resources under conditions of unemployment and poverty.

“On the one hand, the film lets us learn about life in a former colony which now has major economic and environmental problems. On the other hand, it details the tricks and dangers of online fraud,” shares Arthur Ternovy, a student at the Ukrainian Academy of Leadership.

The screening was followed by a discussion with an expert—Oleksiy Rvachov, senior teacher at the Department of Information Technology and Cybersecurity of the Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs. Yuriy Chumak, the moderator and regional coordinator of Docudays UA in Kharkiv Region, said: “Ghana is an African country where ‘developed’ countries bring thousands of tonnes of their electronic garbage. Which, with the local method of ‘utilization’ by burning metals out of insulating materials and plastic bodies, ruins its environment.”

The students were shocked by what they saw in the film and flooded Mr. Oleksiy with questions about online theft and fraud. They asked how to avoid dangers on the Internet. The expert told them true stories about the lives of cyber criminals whose activities were investigated by Ukrainian law enforcement. He shared some useful advice on how to avoid the traps set by fraudsters.

“For me personally, the event turned out to be extremely interesting. I didn’t just share the knowledge I have, I also learned about both the UAL and Docudays UA. The knowledge proved to be very useful. I’ll tell the students of our police university about what I saw in the film—it will be useful in their future work,” emphasized Mr. Oleksiy.

Ivan Chubukin, the head of the Social Development Programme at the Kharkiv Branch of the Ukrainian Academy of Leadership, noted: “Our students took the film screening very well. The UAL essentially works with new leaders for new Ukraine. And the young activists said that it was actually a film for people who can think. Many important meanings are embedded in it, it is not just some kind of ‘action movie’... We plan to continue to work with Docudays UA, because such films allow us to comprehend the deep meanings of what is happening in the world.”

Mr. Yuriy shared some information about the contemporary dangers of cyberbullying and presented legal booklets prepared as part of Docudays UA’s Campaign Against Cyberbullying.

Author: Heorhiy Kobzar