Internet fraudster bags six months jail term

A Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, Tuesday, convicted and sentenced one Abati Ayodeji Olalekan, a.k.a Carissa, to six months in prison for engaging in internet fraud.

The Lagos Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had arraigned the convict on a five-count charge bordering on possession of documents containing false pretence, an offence which is contrary to Section 318 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.

EFCC spokesman, Tony Orilade, in a statement, said Olalekan was arrested following intelligence report received by the commission sometime in October 2018.

He explained that the report exposed the activities of some persons alleged to be involved in internet fraud, obtaining money by false pretence, bank fraud and credit card theft, among others.

Items recovered included one iphone X, one iphone 6, one HP Pavilion desktop, and one keyboard, which reportedly were tendered in evidence by the prosecution and admitted by the court.

One of the counts reads, “that you, Abati Ayodeji Olalekan, a.k.a Carissa, on or about the 17th October, 2019 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, had in your possession, documents titled “About Me 2-1-1,” wherein you represented yourself as Carissa, a representation you knew to be false pretence.”

At the sitting on Monday, March 4, 2019, Orilade said the prosecution counsel, Emeka Akaogu, told the court that the defendant had entered a plea bargain with the commission, having been confronted with evidence against him.

But after a review of the facts, the EFCC spokesman affirmed that presiding Justice Sherifat Solebo convicted Olalekan and sentenced him to six months in prison.