Scams: Two men get six months jail terms apiece

Etim Ekpimah

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has convicted and sentenced one Yakubu Samaila before Justice M.T. M Aliyu of the Kaduna State High Court, Kaduna for fraudulently withdrawing the sum of N935,000 (Nine Hundred and Thirty Five Thousand Naira) from the account of one Isiyaku Yawale,  domiciled at Keystone Bank without his consent,

An investigation by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the EFCC revealed that the defendant fraudulently did a welcome back on the SIM card of Yawale, his neighbour, and upon discovering that the victim had N935, 000 (Nine Hundred and Thirty-Five Thousand Naira) in his bank account, the defendant obtained the NIN slip, bank verification details and falsely swore to an affidavit in the name of the complainant and used the details to open two accounts with one of the new generation banks. Thereafter, he transferred money in twenty-two tranches from the victim’s account.

The one-count charge reads: “That you, Yakubu Samaila “m” sometimes between the months of September and October 2019 in Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court dishonestly took out of the possession of Isiyaku Yawale, the sum of N 935,000 ( Nine Hundred and Thirty-Five Thousand Naira) only from his account Number 6015542621 domiciled at Keystone Bank, without his consent and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 270 (1) of the Penal Code Law, 2017 of Kaduna State and punishable under Section 271 of the same Law”.

He pleaded guilty to the one-count charge when it was read to him prompting the prosecution counsel, Y.J Matiyak to ask the court to convict him.

Justice Aliyu, thereafter convicted and sentenced Yakubu to six months imprisonment without option of fine effective 29th September 2021.

Similarly, the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, September 29, 2021, secured the conviction of one Akinluyi Damilola Gabriel, a worker currently in the employ of Tranex Courier service, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, for internet-related fraud and love scam.

Akinluyi, 29, was prosecuted on one count before Justice Mohammed Sani of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin.

He was among the 34 suspected internet fraudsters arrested in different locations of Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State Capital on March 8, 2021.

The Charge against the defendant reads: “That you, Akinluyi Damilola Gabriel, sometime between January 2021 and February 2021 at Ado Ekiti within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court fraudulently impersonated one Connor Matty via Gmail account connormatty4@gamil.com with intent to obtain $150.00 (One Hundred and Fifty Dollars) worth of iTune gift card and which you did obtain from one Hollie Beilman and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(ii) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (2) (iv) of the same Act”.

The defendant pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him.

Upon his plea, counsel to the EFCC, Aliyu Adebayo, urged the court to convict him as charged.

Justice Sanni sentenced Akinluyi to six months imprisonment with an option of a fine of N300, 000 (Three Hundred Thousand Naira).

The court also ordered the forfeiture of the convict’s iPhone 7 and Motorola phone, which were used to perpetrate the crime to the Federal Government.