By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
A 25-year-old graduate, Olawale Oladapo, accused of love scam and internet fraud has been jailed 24 months by an Ilorin High Court.
Oladapo, a Quantity Survey graduate of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, was dragged before Justice Mahmoud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court by the Economic and Financial Crines Commission, EFCC, for the offence.
He was prosecuted on a four-count charge by the Ilorin Zonal Office of the EFCC.
The charge against him had read, “That you, Olawale Oladayo, sometime in July, 2020, at Ilorin, within the judicial division of the High Court, did cheat by impersonation, while acting as a white female, named Zenith Beuty Yart.”
This, he was said to have done with a gmail account zenithbeutyat@gmail.com and in that guise induced one Liu Minghao to send him the sum of $300.00 vide Ebay Gift Card and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code.
Oladayo pleaded guilty to the charge preferred against him by the anti-graft agency.
Following his plea, the prosecuting counsel, Andrew Akoja, invited to the witness box, one Detective Musa Sanni, an investigator with the EFCC to review the facts of the case.
Sanni in his evidence in-chief narrated how a petition by some concerned citizens of Offa, on the activities of fraudsters in the area was assigned to his section.
Sanni told the court that the defendant was arrested on September 15, 2020 and that upon arrest, a search was executed in his house, where items including phones, laptop and a Honda Accord car were recovered.
He also tendered several fraudulent messages, printed out from the defendant’s email, which the court admitted in evidence.
In a well-considered judgment, Justice Abdulgafar found Oladayo guilty and sentenced him to six months imprisonment on each of the four counts.
The sentences, which would run concurrently was, however, suspended till after two years, the judge added
The court also ordered the convict to pay the sum of $375.00 to one Liu Minghao, $200.00 to one Johnny Soxnard and $75.00 to one John Tran as restitution, being the victims of his fraudulent activities.
The judge further ordered that the convict’s phone and laptop which he used as instruments in perpetrating the crime be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
He was ordered to be reporting at the EFCC office once every month.
