University Student, Three Others Jailed For Internet Fraud

A university student, Akanbi Akorede Afeez has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by Justice Suleiman Akanbi of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin for internet fraud.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in a statement on Tuesday, December 10, disclosed that Afeez was arraigned on a one-count charge bordering on internet fraud.

The charge reads: “That you, Akanbi Akorede Afeez (a.k.a Erdis) between February 2023 or thereabout Kwara State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court dishonestly induced one Dinero Enviado, a white man to send you gift cards worth the sum of Five Hundred and Fifty One Dollars when you knowingly pretended and represented yourself to be one Erdis, a white lady who is in a romantic relationship with him and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 321 and punishable under section 324 of the Penal Code Laws of Northern Nigeria.”

Equally, on Monday, December 9, 2024 the Ilorin Zonal Directorate secured the conviction of another set of three suspected fraudsters before Justice Haleema Saleeman of the State High Court, Ilorin over offences bordering on internet fraud.

They are Oladejo Ibrahim Abiodun, Yusuf Adewale Gbadeyan and one Adeoye David Oluwatimileyin.

The convicts were prosecuted on one-count separate charges to which they pleaded guilty.

For instance, the charge against Adeoye reads: “That you, Adeoye David Oluwatimileyin sometime in 2024, in Kwara State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Sierra and, in that guise, induced one J. Miguel Montaya to send you $300 to you under the guise of a romantic relationship and punishable under section 321 of the Penal Code Law and punishable under section 324 of the same Laws”

Upon their pleas, counsel to the EFCC, Rasheedat Alao and Victoria Igbodo, while reviewing the facts of the cases presented witnesses and tendered extra-judicial statements of the defendants. They also tendered in evidence items recovered from them at the point of arrest and monies, which they benefited from their criminal conducts.

Satisfied with the facts of the cases, the court found the defendants guilty and consequently sentenced them.

Justice Saleeman sentenced Abiodun to one year imprisonment or a fine of N400,000 (Four Hundred Thousand Naira only) and ordered that his Iphone 13 pro and the sum of $100 (One Hundred United States Dollars) be forfeited to the Federal Government.

According to the judge, Abiodun would also restitute the sum of $400 (Four Hundred Dollars) to his victims through the EFCC.

The judge, in the same vein, sentenced Gbadeyan to six months imprisonment or a fine of N300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand Naira only). She also ordered the forfeiture of the sum of $300 Canadian dollars, one iphone 12 and a Samsung phone used as instruments of crime by the convict to the Federal Government.

Justice Saleeman also sentenced Oluwatimileyin to eight months imprisonment or a fine of N250,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira only) and ordered the forfeiture of the sum of $300 (Three Hundred Dollars) and one iphone 12 recovered from convict at the point of arrest were forfeited to the Federal Government.

Afeez was ordered to sweep and clear the premises of the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin for two weeks, while forfeiting his iphone 14 promax and his hp laptop which were used to perpetrate the crime to the federal government.

All the convicts bagged their imprisonment when they were arrested by operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC for internet-related fraud. They were charged to court and prosecuted.