Court Jails Undergraduate For 18 Months For Internet Scam

Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja has sentenced a 100-level University part-time computer science student, Emmanuel Victor, to 18 months imprisonment for defrauding his victims of $7,000 through an online scamming scheme.

The 23-year-old convict, who was arraigned before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was jailed after pleading to a one-count charge of Internet fraud.

The EFCC prosecuting counsel, Abubakar Dambua, while reviewing the facts of the case, told the court that on September 15, 2023, the commission received an intelligence report about the fraudulent activities of the convict and others.

Dambua stated that a raid was carried out by some of the operatives of the EFCC, during which the convict was arrested.

He listed items recovered from the convict to include an iPhone 13 deep blue colour, a Samsung phone, an ATM card, a Manager cheque and fraudulent documents.

The prosecutor then urged the court to admit all the recovered items as evidence, a request which the judge granted.

The defence counsel, Ester Ukpai, did not object to the admissibility of items recovered from the convict.

When Justice Dipeolu asked the convict how he carried out the scam, he told him that he created a false account in the name of one ‘Agent Fred Smith’ on Facebook.

The convict said, “I then asked the unsuspecting victims to apply for the Social Economic Grant Programme, and I asked them to pay for processing and delivery.”

Victor told the court he used the $7,000 to resettle his family, “we used to stay in a plank house, and l used the money to provide better accommodation and pay for my school fees.”

He was sorry for his fraudulent activities and promised not to return to crime if granted a second chance.

The defence counsel, in her allocutus, said the convict had realised his mistake, become remorseful and that he is a first-time offender.

She pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy and grant him a non-custodial sentence, saying that his mother was not well.

In his judgment, Justice Oshodi said he does not believe that the convict committed the offence out of necessity.

He, however, said he would reduce his sentence by 20 per cent.

Justice Oshodi then sentenced the convict to 18 months imprisonment with an option of a N4 million fine instead of imprisonment.

The judge also ordered that the convict would forfeit all items recovered from him, including the phones, ATM card, and the  Manager’s cheque, to the federal government.