Four Nigerian internet fraudsters jailed

Justice Adenike Akinpelu of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, on Tuesday, sentenced four men to one year imprisonment each for fraudulent practices and duping foreigners.

The convicts are Atanda Benjamin, Sadiku Muniru, Olapade Solomon and Atoyebi Samson.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had charged them separately with cheating by impersonation.

The EFCC had accused them of presenting themselves as women and defrauding some foreigners of various sums of money under the pretext of being in love with them.

Sadiku was said to have defrauded a foreigner of N2.8m, while Atoyebi defrauded his victim of $500, which were transferred to their Nigerian bank accounts.

One of the charges read, “You, Atanda Femi Benjamin (alias Federer Abril), sometime in December 2018 in Ilorin, did attempt to cheat by impersonation, when you pretended to be one Federer Abril, a white Caucasian via the Gmail account: federerabril111@gamil.com, and in that guise, communicated with one Linda Richardson via Hangout with Linda Richardson, a representation you knew to be false, thereby committing an offence contrary to sections 95, 320 and 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under sections 322 and 324 of the Penal Code.”

The convicts had pleaded guilty to the charges on February 27, 2020.

Meanwhile, the Port Harcourt Zonal office of the EFCC has arrested 12 suspected internet fraudsters in Ishuizo, Egbu, Owerri, Imo State.

Some of the suspects were identified as Samuel Chimaobi, Alex Udodiri, Ejike Chikamso, Nwanchukwu Michael and Obialor Samson.

Others are Chukwudi Leo Asoegbu, Michael Opara, Uzukwu Chibuike Princewill, Okeke MacDonald, Jonathan Chikwen Nature, Agu Emmanuel Ebere and Ikechi Lucky Obi.

A statement by the anti-graft agency indicated that the suspects were among the 23 persons apprehended on March 12, 2020, before 11 of them were released after a thorough investigation.

The statement also revealed that the 12 persons in EFCC’s custody were arrested for their involvement in various fraudulent acts like love scam, Bitcoin fraud and identity theft.

It added, “They are among the 23 persons apprehended in an early morning operation by the commission on March 12, 2020. However, after careful screening, 11 suspects were released.

“Preliminary investigation has established the involvement of the remaining 12 suspects in various internet scams ranging from love scam, Bitcoin fraud, identity theft and trading scam, among others.”

It listed items recovered from the suspects as 11 laptops, five android phones, four Nokia phones, one Tecno phone, three WiFi modems and a wristwatch.

The suspects, it was gathered, would be charged as soon as investigation was concluded.