EFCC: Court jails four internet fraudsters

The Federal High Court sitting in Enugu, Enugu State, southeast Nigeria, presided by Justice I.M Buba, on Friday convicted four internet fraudsters who were prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Enugu Zonal Command on charges bordering on impersonation and obtaining money under false pretences. The EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement identified the convicts as Onah Chiemerie, Arinze Ugochukwu, Chukwuorji Chukwubuike and Eke Kingsley Nnamdi.

The charge of the EFCC against Nnamdi reads, “That you Eke Kingsley Nnamdi sometime in 2022 in Enugu within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court fraudulently  impersonated one Lucy Robinson with a Caucasian Picture as profile picture via your Tecno Spark7 Phone , with intent to obtain money from unsuspecting foreign nationals, mostly men and in  order to gain advantage of yourself and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (3) (a) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act,2015 and punishable under Section  22 (4) of the same Act”.

According to the EFCC, all the four defendants pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them. Justice Buba, therefore, sentenced of each the fraudsters to one year imprisonment with an option of fine of N1, 000,000. The fines are to be paid into the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government. They are to forfeit their phones which will be auctioned by the EFCC before six months and the proceeds paid into the Federal Government Consolidated Account.

In a related development, another internet fraudster who was convicted by Justice Buba on Wednesday May 11, 2022, was sentenced to one year imprisonment with an option of N1 million fine. His phone is to be auctioned by the EFCC and the proceeds and the fine paid into the TSA of the Federal Government of Nigeria.