Justice I.M Buba of the Federal High Court sitting in Enugu State has convicted and jailed seven internet fraudsters for one year in prison.
The convicts were arraigned before the court by the Enugu Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on offences bordering on impersonation and obtaining money under false pretences from unsuspecting foreign nationals.
File photo used to illustrate story.
A statement by the anti-graft agency on Friday, signed by its Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, said their conviction was secured on Thursday.
According to Uwujaren, the convicts were "Nwafor Clinton Chetachi, Utogbo Joseph, Omilo Collins Chimere, Enegide Ifeanyi Kizito, Chukwuajama Collins Arinze, Victor Udekwe and Chukwudi Emmanuel."
The charge read, “That you, Nwafor Clinton Chetachi sometime in April 2022 at Owerri within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court fraudulently impersonated one American military personnel serving in Syria using the name of one Britton Thomas, an American Citizen, in order to gain advantage for yourself from Kristine, a Russian woman residing in Latvia, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (3) (a) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (4) of the same Act."
EFCC spokesman stated that all the seven defendants pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them.
Consequent upon this, Justice Buba sentenced them to one year imprisonment with various options of fine. "The fines are to be paid into the TSA account. They are also to forfeit their phones which will be auctioned by the EFCC and the proceeds paid into the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Account."
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