Justice Suleiman Akanbi of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Monday, December 09, 2024 sentenced a student, Akanbi Akorede Afeez, to two years imprisonment for internet fraud.
He was arraigned on a lone-count charge
bordering on internet fraud.
The charge reads:
“That you, Akanbi Akorede Afeez (a.k.a Erdis)
between February 2023 or thereabout Kwara State within the jurisdiction of this
Honourable Court dishonestly induced one Dinero Enviado, a white man to send
you gift cards worth the sum of Five Hundred and Fifty One Dollars when you
knowingly pretended and represented yourself to be one Erdis, a white lady who
is in a romantic relationship with him and you thereby committed an offence
contrary to and punishable under section 321 and punishable under section 324
of the Penal Code Laws of Northern Nigeria.”
Equally, on Monday, December 9, 2024 the Ilorin
Zonal Directorate secured the conviction of another set of three suspected
fraudsters before Justice Haleema Saleeman of the State High Court, Ilorin over
offences bordering on internet fraud.
They are Oladejo Ibrahim Abiodun, Yusuf Adewale
Gbadeyan and one Adeoye David Oluwatimileyin
The convicts were prosecuted on one-count separate
charges to which they pleaded guilty.
For instance, the charge against Adeoye reads:
“That you, Adeoye David Oluwatimileyin sometime in
2024, in Kwara State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did cheat
by personation when you pretended to be one Sierra and, in that guise, induced
one J. Miguel Montaya to send you $300 to you under the guise of a romantic
relationship and punishable under section 321 of the Penal Code Law and
punishable under section 324 of the same Laws”
Upon their pleas, counsel to the EFCC, Rasheedat Alao
and Victoria Igbodo, while reviewing the facts of the cases presented witnesses
and tendered extra-judicial statements of the defendants. They also tendered in
evidence items recovered from them at the point of arrest and monies, which
they benefited from their criminal conducts.
Satisfied with the facts of the cases, the court
found the defendants guilty and consequently sentenced them.
Justice Saleeman sentenced Abiodun to one year
imprisonment or a fine of N400,000 (Four Hundred Thousand Naira only) and
ordered that his Iphone 13 pro and the sum of $100 (One Hundred United
States Dollars) be forfeited to the Federal Government. According
to the judge, Abiodun would also restitute the sum of $400 (Four Hundred
Dollars) to his victims through the EFCC.
The judge, in the same vein, sentenced Gbadeyan
to six months imprisonment or a fine of N300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand
Naira only). She also ordered the forfeiture of the sum of $300 Canadian
dollars, one iphone 12 and a Samsung phone used as instruments of crime by the
convict to the Federal Government.
Justice Saleeman also sentenced Oluwatimileyin
to eight months imprisonment or a fine of N250,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty
Thousand Naira only) and ordered the forfeiture of the sum of $300 (Three
Hundred Dollars) and one iphone 12 recovered from convict at the point of
arrest were forfeited to the Federal Government.
Afeez was ordered to sweep and clear the
premises of the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin for two weeks, while forfeiting
his iphone 14 promax and his hp laptop which were used to perpetrate the crime
to the federal government.
All the convicts bagged their imprisonment when they
were arrested by operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC for internet-related fraud. They were charged
to court and prosecuted.
Comments:
Leave a Reply