Kwara Courts Jail 11 for Internet Fraud

Court

By JUMOKE SANNI

The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction and sentence of 11 fraudsters before Justices Mahmud Abdulgafar and Abimbola Awogboro of the Kwara State and the Federal High Courts, respectively, sitting in Ilorin.

The convicts are, Mathew Stephen Yaba, Samuel Stephen Ayomide, Bamidele Favour Olajide, Isah Kadir, Abdulrasaq Jubril, Samuel Peter Juwon, Omolaiye Stephen Benefit, Kayode Emmanuel Opeyemi, Abdulrahim Lasisi, Ugwuadu Ikechukwu Michael and Moshood Abduljawad.

All the defendants were tried before Justice Awogboro, barring Jubril who was prosecuted before Justice Abdulgafar. Their offences bordered on impersonation, obtaining under false pretence, retention of proceeds of crime and internet fraud.

Count two of Yaba’s charge reads: “That you, Matthew Stephen Yaba, sometime between the year 2022 and 2025, within the judicial division of the Federal High Court, was found to have retained the control of the gross sum of N7,384,750.00 (Seven Million, Three Hundred and Eighty Four Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifty Naira) through your Kuda Bank account number 2046437307 which you knew to be proceed of criminal conduct and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 17 (a) and (b) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004.”

Ayomide’s charge reads: “That you, Samuel Stephen Ayomide, sometime in 2025, within the judicial division of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, sent electronic messages on your Telegram Account; CPN Goat, where you materially misrepresented facts that you specialise in creating credit bureaus scores on Credit privacy Number (CPN), under which reliance one Faith Jackson was caused to suffer loss of $922 (Nine Hundred and Twenty -Two US Dollars) through Bitcoin and thereby committed a computer-related fraud, contrary to and punishable under Section 14 (2) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition Prevention Etc) Act 2015.”