Six people have been found guilty of crimes related to online fraud by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in front of Justices Sulaiman Akanbi and Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court, which is located in Ilorin.
The inmates are Idris Muhammad, Ismail Mustapha, Oyekola Odunayo, Anthony Stephen, Timilehin Adeniyi, and Olayiwola Ayomide Abdulmalik, according to a statement released to the media on Thursday by EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale.
On Monday, October 14, 2024, Justice Yusuf found Adeniyi and Abdulmalik guilty, while Justice Akanbi imprisoned Muhammad, Mustapha, Odunayo, and Stephen.
The charge against Idris reads, “That you, Idris Muhammed, on or about the 13th day of July 2024 to 13th of August 2024 in Ilorin within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Dorthy Onanewlevel Palmer and fraudulently deceived one Lavergne Adriana Racheal to send $600 (six hundred dollars) to you via cash app and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code.”
Meanwhile, the charge against Ismail read, “That you, Ismail Temitope Mustapha (Alias: Myre Roddy), sometime between the years 2022 and 2023 within the judicial division of the High Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Myre Roddy via Tik Tok account @roddy0s3 and induced one Ron Woldron to part with the gross sum of $500 (five hundred dollars) via vide apple gift cards; and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code.”
According to the statement, the offenders entered guilty pleas to the allegations against them in court.
Following their pleas, the defendants’ extrajudicial comments, objects found on them at the scene of the arrest, and money they received from the unlawful actions were presented to the court as evidence by prosecution attorneys Victoria Igodo and Andrew Akoja.
As a result, Justice Akanbi ordered the confiscation of Idris’ iPhone 13 and $300 (three hundred dollars), which he raised as compensation to the Federal Government, and sentenced him to two years in prison with a N100,000 only option.
The court ordered Ismail to relinquish his iPhone 11 Promax and $300 to the Federal Government and sentenced him to one year in prison with a fine of N100,000.
Additionally, Odunayo was sentenced to one year in jail on count one with a N100,000 fine option, two years in prison on count two with a N200,000 fine option, and two weeks of community service on count three with a N50,000 fine.
The Court decided that the $300 and N34,900 that were taken from him will be forfeited to the Federal Government.
In a same vein, the court ordered that Anthony relinquish the iPhone 12 and the $25 he received from his illegal actions to the Federal Government and sentenced him to one year in prison with a N50,000 maximum.
Similarly, Timilehin and Olayiwola were given a six-month jail sentence with a N200,000 option apiece by Justice Yusuf.
The Federal Government received the phones and compensation money brought by the prisoners.
