The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Makurdi Zonal Command, has secured the conviction of Onah Michael Owoicho, Ochigbo Monday Adakole and Ahmed Musa before Justice Abdu Dogo of the Federal High Court in Makurdi, Benue State, on separate one-count charges of criminal impersonation and obtaining money by false pretences.
Michael, allegedly obtained the aggregate sum of N35 million through credit card fraud, while Monday, obtained N2.3million in Bitcoin fees from members of a Gay Group through a Gay Website. He had represented himself as a Gay “”Sugar Daddy”” on the platform and enticed members to pay a Bitcoin fee of $254 to access the $5,000 which he will send to them as allowance for a romp. Ahmed was nabbed for alleged ATM fraud.
According to the EFCC, the offence is contrary to Section 33(1) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 and punishable under the same Act.
The charge against Onah Michael Owoicho reads, “That you Onah Michael Owoicho “m” sometime in September, 2021 in Makurdi, Benue State, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, fraudulently represented yourself to be an Online Credit Card Business person and obtained the aggregate sum of N35,082,668.87 (Thirty Five Million Eight Two Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty Eight Naira Eighty Seven Kobo) as financial gain and benefit to yourself which was paid into your crypto currency wallet account and which you transferred to your GT Bank account No. 0118182244 and UBA Bank account No. 2144289015, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 33(1) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under same section of the Act”.
When the charge was read to the defendants, they pleaded ‘guilty’ to the offence. The prosecuting EFCC lawyer, M. Yusuf reviewed the facts of the cases and urged the court to convict the defendants accordingly.
In a separate judgment, Justice Dogo convicted and sentenced Owoicho to one (1) year imprisonment with an option of fine of N3.5million The judge also directed that Owoicho’s Lexus ES 350 car, Samsung Galaxy A51 and Techno T662 mobile phones and monies in the two bank accounts used in committing the crime should be forfeited to the Federal Government.
Adakole was sentenced to one (1) year imprisonment with an option of fine of N1.5million. He was also ordered to forfeit a Toyota Camry car 2009 model and monies in four bank accounts used in commuting the crime, to the Federal Government.
Musa also bagged six months imprisonment with an option of fine of N250,000.
