Court jails man for Internet fraud in Port Harcourt

Glory Ebomah

Justice S. D. Pam of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has convicted and sentenced one Daniel Walter Anga to prison for internet fraud.

Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said the defendant was prosecuted by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a charge of impersonation.

The charge read: “That you, Daniel Walter Anga on or about 21st February 2024, at Port Harcourt, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did fraudulently impersonate Hudson Cole a white male Veteran military officer with intent to gain advantage for yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015 and punishable under the same section of the Act.”

He pleaded “guilty” when the charge was read to him, following which prosecution counsel, I. Agu, tendered some documents in evidence and called a witness, ASE 1, Yahaya Yusuf Abbas, an operative of EFCC who testified against him.

The documents tendered by the prosecution included: the statement of the defendant, incriminating printouts from the defendant’s mobile device and his iPhone 12.

Based on the evidence tendered and the testimonies of the witness, Agu prayed the court to convict and sentence accordingly, while defence counsel J. J. Simon asked the court to temper justice with mercy, stating that the defendant was a first-time offender and did not waste the court’s time.

Justice Pam, after that, sentenced Anga to one-year imprisonment or a fine of  N20,000.00 (Twenty Thousand Naira).

He also forfeited his iPhone 12 mobile device to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Investigation revealed that the defendant specialised in romance scams, using false identities on Facebook and Gmail.