Date: 2021-07-06

A Kwara state high court, sitting in Ilorin, on Monday sentenced a 20-year-old boy, Oke Gideon to 30 days imprisonment.

He was found guilty of offences bordering on romance scam and internet fraud by Justice Mahmood Abdulgafar.

A statement by the media unit of the Ilorin Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said the long arm of the law caught up with Gideon on May 4, 2021, when he was arrested by operatives of the agency following Intelligence reports on his nefarious activities.

"Upon arrest, he was profiled and volunteered statements, admitting to committing the crime.

" In his confessional statement, dated May 6, 2021, Gideon admitted that he engaged in dating scam, live scam and other internet fraud-related offences."

He was subsequently arraigned in court on Friday, July 2, 2021 on two counts to which he pleaded guilty.

In his judgement on Monday, Justice Abdulgafar, convicted and sentenced Gideon based on his confessional statement, his plea to the charge and exhibits tendered against him before the court.

Following his plea, Counsel to the EFCC, Sesan Ola, led one Sarah Audu, an operative of the agency, to review the facts of the case.

Audu narrated how Gideon was arrested based on actionable intelligence on the activities of internet fraudsters operating within Ilorin metropolis.

She further tendered the confessional statement of the convict as well as fraudulent messages printed from his email which were all admitted in evidence.

However, the judge gave the convict an option of a fine of N50,000 and ordered that his iPhone 6 and HP laptop which was used as instruments in the crime be forfeited to the Federal government.

Count one of the charge read; "That you Oke Gideon, (Jenna Cherry) between August 2020 and September 2020, in Ilorin within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, did obtain 150 US dollars, with a gift from one Bradley Miller under the false pretence that you are Jerry Cherry, a white female from Las Vegas, United States of America, which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 1(3) of Advance Free Fraud and other fraud-related offences Act 2006."