A final-year student of a polytechnic in Kwara State, Olaitan Abdulwahab, has been sentenced to six months in prison for internet fraud.
Three others, Maruf Quadri Kolawole, Habeeb Abiodun Jimoh, and Mubarak Moruf, were also convicted for similar offences.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said the four were arrested for cheating by personation and obtaining by false pretence, which are offences under Sections 321 and 324 of the Penal Code.
EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale said, “Olaitan Abdulwahab Damilare, a 25-year-old Higher National Diploma student of Quantity Surveying, pretended to be a white woman named Fav and tricked an American man, Michael, into sending him gift cards worth \$2,100.”
In court, the charge read, “That you, Olaitan Abdulwahab Damilare, sometime in January 2024, in Ilorin, dishonestly induced one Michael, a white man, to send you gift cards worth the sum of \$2,100 when you knowingly pretended to be Fav, a white lady in a romantic relationship with him.”
The EFCC said all the defendants pleaded guilty. The prosecution, led by Aliyu Adebayo and Mustapha Kaigama, presented evidence including confessional statements and items recovered from the suspects.
Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar sentenced Olaitan to six months imprisonment and ordered that $2000, an iPhone XR, and a Samsung phone be forfeited to the federal government.
Maruf was jailed for six months after admitting he posed as Frank Matt on Facebook to collect 950 Australian dollars from a man named Philip Solomon. The judge ordered the forfeiture of his iPhone 13 Pro Max and the money to the government.
Habeeb was sentenced to six months with an order to forfeit his iPhone 14 Pro Max, an HP laptop, and $365.
Justice Sulaiman Akanbi, in a separate ruling, sentenced Mubarak to one year imprisonment or a fine of N400,000. His iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 7, and $300 were also forfeited to the government.
