The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction of one Asaolu Femi Richard, an interior decorator from Iloffa in Oke-ero Local Government Area of Kwara State, and two others for offences bordering on cybercrime in Kwara State High Court.
The two others are Adeoye Abdulgafar Olashile from the Atiba Local Government Area of Oyo State and Madiu Bayo Tajudeen from the Kishi area of Oyo State.
The three convicts were prosecuted on separate charges before Justice Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin.
Asaolu Femi Richard (alias Marissa Hant) sometime in April 2023, in Ilorin, did cheat by personation when he pretended to be one Marissa Hant, a white transgender woman from Texas, United States of America, with the email account phemiolamde@gmail.com, and in that guise induced one Nick Fansier to send you $30 (Thirty Dollars), which he received via a gift card, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Law and Punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code Law.
Adeoye Abdulgafar Olashile (Alias: Farmer Daughter), sometime between the months of November 2022 and April 2023, in Ilorin, did cheat by personation when he pretended to be one Farmer Daughter, a white female with WhatsApp account number +2347081001435, and in that guise induced one Ronde Hill to send him $450 (four hundred and Fifty Dollars), which he received via cash app, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Law and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code Law.
Madiu Bayo Tajudeen (Alias: Sylvia), sometime between the months of November 2022 and March 2023, in Ilorin, did cheat by personation when he pretended to be one Sylvia, a white female from Massachusetts, United States of America, with Telegram Account Number +2349046631330, and in that guise induced one William Kisam to send him $600 (Six Hundred Dollars), which he received via gift cards, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code law and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code law.
The defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges.
Following their ‘guilty pleas’, counsel to the EFCC, M. M. Kaigama, led witnesses who are operatives of the Commission in evidence to review the facts of the cases. The witnesses narrated the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the defendants and tendered their extra-judicial statements, the different brands of phones recovered from them at the point of arrest, and the various sums of money that the defendants brought as restitution and were admitted in evidence.
Kaigama, after the testimonies of the witnesses, urged the court to convict the defendants as charged.
In his judgement on June 20, 2023, Justice Yusuf said that he was convinced that the prosecution had proved the cases beyond reasonable doubt and pronounced the defendants guilty.
The Judge sentenced Asaolu to six months imprisonment with the option of a fine of N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira Only). He ordered that the Samsung S10 phone, which he used to perpetrate the crime, and the sum of $30 (Thirty USD) from which he benefited from the crime be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Similarly, Justice Yusuf sentenced Adeoye to six months imprisonment with the option of a N50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira Only) fine. The convict was also ordered to forfeit his iPhone 13 Pro Max and the sum of $400 (Four Hundred United States Dollars) to the Federal Government.
Madiu bagged six months imprisonment with the option of a fine of N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira Only), while a Samsung S8 phone and HP laptop used as instruments of the crime and the sum of $600 (Six Hundred United States Dollars) from which he benefited from the illegal activity were ordered forfeited to the Federal Government.
