Choosing Not to Hustle: Understanding the Inhibiting Factors of Youth Involvement in Internet Fraud in Lagos Metropolis

Youth involvement in cybercrime has emerged as a pressing transnational challenge, yet the factors that dissuade potential offenders in Lagos Metropolis remains underexplored. This study advances current theorization in digital criminology by examining the socio-economic and moral mechanisms that inhibit youth engagement in internet fraud within the Lagos metropolis. Using a mixed-methods design, data were gathered from 277 incarcerated cyber offenders and 20 law enforcement officers. The analysis integrates containment theory and moral disengagement theory to explain how self-concept, moral reasoning, and social regulation interact to constrain deviant choices in high-risk digital environments. Findings reveal that strong parental supervision, internalized morality, religious commitment, and fear of legal repercussions collectively reinforce personal containment, while the absence of moral disengagement serves as a psychological buffer against deviance. These results extend existing scholarship by reframing non-participation in cybercrime as an active process of moral agency rather than mere absence of opportunity.