Court Jails Man for Romance Scam In Kwara
Muhammed Awal has been convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment after pleading guilty to a romance scam in which he presented himself as a white woman to defraud unsuspecting victims.
The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned the convict, who hails from Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara State, before Justice Adebayo Yusuf of a Kwara State High Court, Ilorin, on a one-count charge.
The charge against him reads. ‘That you, Muhammed Awal, sometime between the months of November 2022 and January 2023 in Ilorin within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Mc-Kay from Atlanta Georgia, USA and fraudulently deceived one Adam Rochelle, through your WhatsApp account number +2347047513686, to send the sum of $1,600.00 (One Thousand, Six Hundred Dollars) which you did receive via gift cards, under the guise that you were a lady in a romantic relationship with him and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under section 324 of the same law”.
The Prosecution counsel, Mukhtar Mustapha Kaigama, reviewed the facts of the case through a witness, Chukwuemeka Amadi Idam, an operative of the EFCC.
The witness narrated how the defendant was arrested based on intelligence and tendered his Samsung X10 phone, the fraudulent messages printed from his devices as well as his extra-judicial statement, which were admitted in evidence.
Kaigama therefore urged the Court to consider the plea of the defendant, the extra-judicial statements and all the exhibits tendered and hold that the prosecution has proved its case and convict the defendant as charged.
Delivering judgment on Monday, Justice Yusuf held that the Court was satisfied with the case of the prosecution and pronounced Muhammed guilty of the allegation levelled against him.
The Judge sentenced him to six months imprisonment with the option of fine of One Hundred Thousand Naira Only (N100,000).
In addition, the Convict will forfeit the Samsung phone which he used to perpetrate the crime to the Federal Government.
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