The Ibadan office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday secured the conviction of three persons charged with internet fraud.
Two of the convicts are students, while the third is a fashion designer.
Opeyemi Olasumbo Folarin, a 27-year-old Higher National Diploma student of The Ibadan Polytechnic, and Ogunseye Ajibola Olamilekan, a student of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta were tried before Justice Patricia Ajoku of the Federal High Court, Ibadan.
Folarin and Olamilekan were sentenced to six months and seven months imprisonment respectively.
The offence is contrary to section 22(2)(b)(i) and punishable under section 22(2)(b) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act.
The judge also ordered that Folarin forfeit his iPhone XR to the Federal Government of Nigeria, while Olamilekan was ordered to restitute the sum of $700USD to his victim as well as forfeit his Iphone 6 Phone, one Apple MacBook, one PlayStation 4 Game pad, among others to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The third convict Oyelakin Babatunde, a tailor, was sentenced to four months of community service for cybercrime by Justice Omolara Adeyemi of the state High Court, Ibadan.
The Head, Media and Publicity of the anti-graft agency, Wilson Uwujaren noted that the 32-year-old convict was arrested in September last year for allegedly obtaining money by false pretences from unsuspecting foreigners through Amazon and iTunes gift cards as well as Western Union and MoneyGram money transfers.
“Oyelakin’s offence contravenes Section 421 of the Criminal Code cap 38, laws of Oyo State, 2000 and punishable under the same section, he pleaded guilty to the one count charge brought against him by the EFCC.”
Aside the jail term, the court also ordered him to restitute the sum of £950 to his victims and forfeit one Lexus Rs350, one silver HP laptop, one white iPhone 11, and one golden iPhone, among others, to the Federal Government of Nigeria.