Justice O. A. Egwuatu of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja has convicted 10 people on one count separate charges bordering on internet fraud.
The defendants who were prosecuted by the Makurdi Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), are Ikyegh Senenge Bobo, Anum Cyprian Sesugh, Boniface Udoo Aondofa, Utor Stanley Torkuma, Obande Emmanuel, James Ekere, Tony Ochekwu Moda, Ochaje James, Shadrach Ugbu Aondona and Odumu Michael.
The convicts were arrested at different locations in Makurdi for alleged involvement in cybercrime, before being convicted on Thursday, September 14, 2023 at the Federal Capital Territory.
Investigation by the anti-graft agency revealed that they assumed different identities to lure unsuspecting persons into phony social relationships with a view to defrauding them.
Some of the charges read: ” That you, Ikyegh Senenge Bobo “M” sometime between December, 2022 to May, 2023 in Makurdi, Benue State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, sent an electronic message to one Daniella Alias Nagako, a female Japanese citizen based in the United States of America vide an Online App where you disguise yourself as a male citizen of Texas, United States of America with the name Nakamora by procuring Apple iTunes Cards valued at N5,662,200.00 from her and converted the proceeds into your Opay Limited wallet, Ikyegh Msendoo Mercy’s GT and Keystone Bank accounts respectively and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22 (3) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under same Section of the Act .
“That you, Obande Emmanuel “M” (22 years) sometime between March and April, 2022 in Makurdi, Benue State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently obtained the sum of $1000 USD from unsuspecting foreign nationals by using Instagram account “taratwithdephina” through which you claimed to be a fortune teller offering consultancy and palm reading service to help them succeed in life and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (1) (iv) of the Act.
“That you, Abah James Ekere “M” (33 years) on or about 22 June, 2021, in Makurdi, Benue State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud knowingly sent electronic messages to Access Bank Plc and GT Bank that materially misrepresented the fact that a transaction of N1, 500,000.00 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira) and N400,000.00 (Four Hundred Thousand Naira) failed from your Access Bank account No. 0025620094 and GT. Bank account No. 0642871829 (from PoS terminal) which the Banks relied upon by making a chargeback to Accelerex Network Nigeria Limited who suffered a loss and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 14 (2) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under same Section of the Act .
“That you, Shadrach Ugbu Aondona on or about February, 2022 in Makurdi, Benue State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, used the identity of one Caitlyn Anderson, an America social media model and created a Gmail account,
caitlynaanderson2012@gmail.com linked with your Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat accounts and sent fictitious messages to unsuspecting foreign nationals and obtained the sum of $2,000 (Two Thousand Dollars) only, which was converted and transferred to your Opay Account number 8073746212 and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(a) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition Prevention) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22(2) (b) (iv) of the same Act “.
They all pleaded guilty to their respective charges.
Justice Egwuatu convicted and sentenced Senenge to one year imprisonment with an option of fine of N500, 000.00. He was ordered to forfeit an iPhone 13 Pro, Pontiac Vibe 2009 model car and two plots of land situated alongside Gboko Road, Phase 1, Makurdi to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Cyprian bagged one year imprisonment with an option of fine of N500, 000.00. He also forfeits an iPhone 11 Pro Max to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Aondofa was sentenced to one year imprisonment with an option of fine of N200, 000.00 and forfeits an iPhone 7 to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Stanley was sentenced to one year imprisonment with an option of fine of N200, 000.00 and forfeits an iPhone to the Federal Government of Nigeria. Also, he is to pay the sum of N97,900 in restitution to the victim.
Emmanuel was sentenced to one year imprisonment with an option of N100, 000 fine and forfeits an iPhone 14 Pro Max to the Federal Government, while James bagged one year imprisonment with an option of fine of N100, 000.00
Ochekwu and Ochaje were sentenced to one year imprisonment with an option of fine of One Million Naira and N500, 000.00 fine respectively. While Ochekwu is to forfeit iPhone 3 and iPhone 8, Ochaje was ordered to forfeit one iPhone 6 and one Hp laptop to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Shadrach and Michael bagged one year imprisonment with option of fine of N300, 000.00 and N200, 000 respectively. Shadrach was ordered to forfeit an iPhone XR to the Federal Government.
Similarly, Justice Egwuatu on Friday, September 15, 2023, convicted and sentenced one Ukoh Michael Odeh to one year imprisonment on one count charge of fraud brought against him by the Makurdi Zonal Command of the EFCC.
Odeh was unable to account for six million naira in his bank account.
The convict got into trouble when the Command received an intelligence report regarding the suspicious activities of some individuals suspected to be internet fraudsters in Makurdi. He was subsequently arrested in a sting operation.
The charge reads: “That you, Ukoh Michael Odeh, between 2022 and 2023 in Makurdi, Benue State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did fail to account for the source of N6,000,000 (Six Million Naira) only in your FCMB account No: 4668442010 when you reasonably ought to have known or suspected that the said unaccounted funds formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity to wit: Fraud and Money laundering and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 20 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and punishable under Section 20(b) of the same Act”.
He pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him.
In view of his plea, the prosecuting counsel, M. Yusuf prayed the court to convict him accordingly.
Justice Egwuatu, convicted and sentenced Michael to one year imprisonment with an option of N300, 000.00 fine. The convict is also to forfeit N300, 000.00 as restitution to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the EFCC.
The convict is also to forfeit an Infinix 7 smart phone being proceeds of criminal activity to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
