Crime
Eight internet fraudsters convicted for impersonation
A Federal Capital Territory High Court has convicted eight internet fraudsters for impersonation.
The fraudsters were apprehended and arraigned in court by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives from the Abuja Zonal Command.
EFCC said in a statement on Friday that the convicts were arraigned before Justices Chinyere Nwecheonu, A.A. Akobi, A.I. Kutigi, and V.S. Garba of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday.
Five of the convicts: Emmanuel Ogochukwu, Ugochukwu Mathias, Aderele Adekunle, Abdullahi Adebola Ayinde, and Matthew Ushie Adie, were prosecuted before Justice Nwecheonwu of the FCT High Court, Kuje, on one-count charges each.
One of the convicts, Abdullahi Adebola Ayinde, was charged with impersonation conspiracy for posing to be an American actor, Tom Cruise.
EFCC said Ayinde obtained $80 from one Anne Line Bergh, alias Sarafina Carly, a Norwegian citizen, after opening an Instagram account with the username Tom Cruise.
While Matthew Ushie Adie was charged for posing to be a citizen of the United Kingdom (UK) on Facebook to defraud one Jeremy Justice Meir of ₦4,410,000 million.
The anti-graft agency also stated that Ogochukwu, posing as Kob Sook Dennis on Facebook, defrauded one Yen Tran, and he also pretended to be Arjun Sharma on Instagram, defrauding unsuspecting females of $400.
According to the charges, he pretended to be Finalisa, the daughter of Lee Bruce, a Hong Kong contractor and obtained 3000 RMB.
Justice Nwecheonu sentenced all five defendants to one year in prison with options of fines as follows: Emmanuel Ogochukwu and Abdullahi both bagged a fine of ₦200,000 each, while Aderele is to pay a fine of ₦300,000. Ugochukwu and Adie were fined N250,000 each.
The court also ordered all convicts to forfeit the proceeds of crime to the federal government.
In a similar development, one Raphael Samuel Maduabuchi, was prosecuted before Justice A.A. Akobi of the FCT High Court Gwagwalada on a one-count charge for cheating by impersonation.
Maduabuchi, who pleaded guilty to the charge, presented herself as a white woman named ‘plasticjuggernaut787’ from the United States of America (USA) to obtain a total sum of $500 from Damonnava as transport fare to meet him.
The court, however, sentenced Maduabuchi to community service, including cutting the grass within the court premises, and forfeited his Samsung Galaxy S9 phone to the federal government.
Justice A.I. Kutigi of the FCT High Court Jabi also found Prince David guilty on a single count of cheating by impersonation after he created a Reddit application with nude female pictures under the name Ladiphilipol and obtained $150 from one Josef pretending to be in a romantic relationship with him.
The Anambra State Police Command has foiled a cult initiation ceremony in Nawfia, Njikoka Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson for the Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday in Awka.
According to Ikenga, the operation was carried out by police operatives around 9:30am on June 15, leading to the arrest of six suspects at the scene.
Recovered during the raid were one Jojef pump action gun, two cartridges, and a golden-coloured Lexus SUV with registration number ATN 202 AE. Other items found include two cutlasses, two scissors, a cap bearing the inscription of the Supreme Vikings Confraternity, charms, and substances suspected to be hard drugs.
“They are currently undergoing police interrogation to get more insight into their modus operandi, after which the case will be charged to court on the conclusion of the investigations,” Ikenga stated.
The police spokesperson reassured residents of the command’s unwavering commitment to fighting cultism and other related crimes across the state.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, remanded two persons, Olaitan Fasasi and Kehinde Tobiloba in a correctional facility over alleged attempted murder.
Fasasi, 40, and Tobiloba, 26, whose addresses were not provided, are being charged with conspiracy, attempted murder and membership of a secret society.
The Magistrate, Mr L.A Owolabi, did not take the plea of the defendants for want of jurisdiction.
Owolabi directed the police to forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for legal advice.
He thereafter adjourned the case until May 31 for mention.
The Prosecutor, Josephine Ikhayere, told the court that the defendants committed the offences at about 5.02p.m on Feb. 15, at Mushin, Lagos.
She said that Fasasi, Tobiloba and others now at large, attempted to commit murder by shooting at a resident, Alfred Ademola.
“They armed themselves with a locally made gun. They belong to Eiye Confraternity, a group proscribed by law,”, she said.
Ikhayere said that the offences contravened Sections 230(1) and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2012.
He said that the actions of the defendants also contravened Section 2(3)(a)(b)(c)(d) of the unlawful societies and Cultism Law of Lagos State Law.
An Area Court in Jos, on Tuesday, sentenced one Jeptha John, to three months imprisonment for stealing a Redmi mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The judge, Shawomi Bokkos, sentenced the John after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
The judge, however, gave the convict an option to pay N20, 000 fine and N50, 000 restitution to the complainant.
Bokkos said that if the convict defaulted in paying the restitution, three months should be added to his sentence to make it six months imprisonment.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Insp Monday Dabit, told the court that the case was reported at the B Division Police Station, Jos, on Dec. 1, 2024, by Ms Nerat Danjuma.
He said that the complainant alleged that the defendant trespassed into her house and stole her mobile phone valued at N165, 000.
The prosecutor further told the court that the offence contravened the Plateau State Penal Code, Law of Northern Nigeria.
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