Prison gates opened wide for two internet scammers, on Tuesday, as the Kwara State High Court, sitting in Ilorin, slapped them with six months in prison.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ilorin zonal office, had charged the convicts, Paul Chibueze Meshak and Babatunde Muhammed Bashir, to court with offences bordering on Internet fraud and other related financial crimes.
The charge against Babatunde read: “That you, Babatunde Mohammed Bashir, on or about the 20th day of September, 2019 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of the High Court of Kwara State, did attempt to cheat by impersonation, when you represented yourself as a detective and requested Mr. Elian Torres Saucedo to send $500 gift card to you, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code.”
The charge against Paul read: “That you, Paul Chibueze Meshack (alias Robert Hicks), sometime in June, 2019, in Ilorin within the judicial division of the Kwara State High Court, did attempt to cheat by impersonation, when you pretended to be Robert Hicks of the HR Department of Amerigroup Corporation with gmail account: roberthickstheman@gmail.com and in that guise communicated with Jessica Winter of Wiltshire, England, vide gmail hangout with jess winter, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code.”
The two convicts had pleaded guilty to the charges, even as Justice Sikiru Oyinloye, ruled that the evidence of the sole prosecution witness, Mr. Olamide Sadiq, an EFCC operative, was incontrovertible.
Sadiq’s evidence was neither challenged nor controverted by the defendants during their trial.
Consequently, Justice Sikiru Oyinloye found them guilty as charged and sentenced them to six months imprisonment.
