They are Aransiola Oluwaseun from Odo-owa in Oke-Ero Local Council of Kwara State; Owoeye Adeyanju, from Ido Local Council of Oyo State; Idris Yekini from Alimosho Local Council of Lagos State; Abdulrahmon Abubakar from Surulere Local Council of Oyo State, Rafiu Ashimiu and Raheem Ayomide Monsur from Ita-Amodu, Kwara State.
The convicts were prosecuted by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for offences bordering on cybercrime and fraud related offences.
Their conviction brings to 24 out of the 50 suspects, comprising 48 students of the Kwara State University (KWASU), and two residents of Malete arrested during a sting operation by operatives of the EFCC over offences bordering on Internet fraud, also known as yahoo-yahoo on February 21.
A statement from the anti-graft agency stated that Aransiola was prosecuted on a one-count charge, which reads:
“That you, Aransiola Oluwaseun Stephen on February 2024 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by impersonation when you pretended to be one Cindy Watson, a White female, based in America, and in that guise induced one Randy Driskill to send you the sum of $350, which you did received via gift cards, thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Law and Punishable under Section 324 of the same law.”
Also tried on one-count charge was Adeyanju, which reads: “That you, Owoeye Adeyanju sometime in January 2024, at Ilorin, Kwara State within the judicial division of the Federal High Court, did fraudulently impersonate one Sara Beauty vide your Instagram account – sara_lyn120 with intent to obtain from one Taylor Johnson and did obtain the sum of $80 through gift cards, thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(ii) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention Etc.) Act 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (2)(b) (iv) of the same Act.”
All the defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges when it was read to them.
Following the guilty pleas, Innocent Mbachie, Adebayo Aliyu, Charles Oni and Rasheedat Alao, who represented the Commission in the cases, reviewed the facts of the cases and tendered the statements and items recovered from the defendants at the point of arrest, which were admitted in evidence.
The Justices having considered the facts placed before the courts and the admittance of guilt by the defendants found them guilty, and accordingly sentenced them to various jail terms.
The courts also ordered that the phones and laptops used in committing the crimes by the convicts and the money brought by them as restitution be forfeited to the Federal Government.
