A 26-year-old forex trader, Kolawole Temidayo Joshua, has been jailed in Ilorin, Kwara State for internet fraud.
The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) secured the conviction and sentencing of the defendant and two others, Abdullahi Isiak and one Daniel Roland Orji, the anti-graft agency said in a statement over the weekend.
According to the EFCC, the convicts, Joshua, Isiak and Orji were arraigned on Monday, October 10, on separate charges of one-count each before Justice Mahmoud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High sitting in Ilorin.
The charge against Joshua reads: “That you, Kolawole Temidayo Joshua, sometime between April and May, 2023 at Ilorin within the Judicial Division of the High Court, did cheat by personation, when you pretended to be one Mia Phillips vide your google voice account: [email protected] and induced one Daniel Murphy a.k.a Wagba Wealth and Danny, to part with gross sum of $400 (Four Hundred US Dollars) through Gift Cards and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code”.
They pleaded guilty to their respective charges, prompting the court to adjourn for judgment.
At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, October 11, EFCC counsel, Muinat Bello and Isabel Adeniran, while reviewing the facts of the cases, tendered exhibits including phones, extra judicial statements and money which they brought as restitutions by the defendants, which were admitted in evidence.
Thereafter, they prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Justice Abdulgafar thereafter convicted and sentenced them.
Joshua was sentenced to six months imprisonment with an option of fine of N500,000 only and ordered that one iPhone 12 and the sum of $200 be forfeited to the federal government.
The court also sentenced Isiak to six months imprisonment, which is to be suspended, and ordered that his iPhone 12 Pro Max used as an instrument of crime be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Equally, Justice Abdulgafar sentenced Orji to six months imprisonment with an option of fine of N150,000 while his iPhone 6 and the sum of $250 were forfeited to the Federal Government.