The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has secured the conviction of six persons for offences bordering on internet fraud before Justices Sulaiman Akanbi and Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin.
According to a statement by the Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Dele Oyewale, made available to newsmen on Thursday, the convicts are Idris Muhammed, Ismail Mustapha, Oyekola Odunayo, Anthony Stephen, Timilehin Adeniyi and Olayiwola Ayomide Abdulmalik.
Justice Akanbi jailed Muhammed, Mustapha, Odunayo and Stephen, while the duo of Adeniyi and Abdulmalik were convicted by Justice Yusuf on Monday, October 14, 2024.
The charge against Idris reads, “That you, Idris Muhammed, on or about the 13th day of July 2024 to 13th of August 2024 in Ilorin within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Dorthy Onanewlevel Palmer and fraudulently deceived one Lavergne Adriana Racheal to send $600 (six hundred dollars) to you via cash app and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code.”
Meanwhile, the charge against Ismail read, “That you, Ismail Temitope Mustapha (Alias: Myre Roddy), sometime between the years 2022 and 2023 within the judicial division of the High Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Myre Roddy via Tik Tok account @roddy0s3 and induced one Ron Woldron to part with the gross sum of $500 (five hundred dollars) via vide apple gift cards; and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code.”
The defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges in court, the statement said.
Upon their pleas, prosecution counsels Andrew Akoja and Victoria Igodo tendered the extrajudicial statements of the defendants, items recovered from them at the point of arrest, and monies that they benefitted from the illegal activities, which the court admitted in evidence.
Consequently, Justice Akanbi sentenced Idris to two years imprisonment with an option of N100,000 only and ordered the forfeiture of his iPhone 13 and the sum of $300 (three hundred dollars), which he raised as restitution to the Federal Government.
The court sentenced Ismail to one year imprisonment with an option of a fine of N100,000 only while ordering the forfeiture of his iPhone 11 Promax and $300 to the Federal Government.
Odunayo also bagged one year imprisonment on count one with an option of N100,000 only, two years imprisonment on count two with an option of N200,000 fine, and two weeks community service on count three with a fine of N50,000.
The sum of $300 and N34,900 recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal Government, the Court ruled.
Similarly, the court sentenced Anthony to one year imprisonment with an option of N50,000 only and ordered that the iPhone 12 and the sum of $25 from which he benefited from the unlawful activities be forfeited to the Federal Government.
In a similar fashion, Justice Yusuf sentenced the duo of Timilehin and Olayiwola to six months imprisonment with an option of N200,000 each.
The convicts’ phones and the money they brought as restitution were forfeited to the Federal Government.
