Justice Abimbola Awogboro wey dey Federal High Court for Ilorin, Kwara State, don sentence one 23-year-old internet fraudster, Adebisi Olalekan, to 24 months for prison without any option to pay fine.
Olalekan, wey be from Omuo-Ekiti for Ekiti East local government area of Ekiti State, chop guilty verdict on Wednesday as court find am guilty for two charges wey get to do with cybercrime — like yahoo-yahoo and pretending to be person wey he no be. Na EFCC for Ilorin zone carry am go court.
As part of di punishment, court order make dem collect N124,402,322 wey dey Olalekan Wema Bank account, one Mercedes Benz ML350 wey worth N30 million, and one iPhone 14 Pro Max wey he use do the yahoo runs.
Dem accuse am say he dey pretend to be different foreign people, including one Joshua Compbell Novak, using fake Gmail and TextPlus accounts from August to December 2024.
Na through those fake identity, he scam people like Allisa Motazedi and Brittany Boggess of $100,000 and $1,000 respectively.
One of the charge talk say: “You, Adebisi Emmanuel Olalekan, between August 2024 and December 2024 for inside di jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, pretend say you be one Joshua Compbell Novak through Gmail and TextPlus number, with intention to collect $100,000 from Allisa Motazedi, wey you succeed collect. This na crime wey go against Section 22(2)(ii) of di Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015, and punishable under Section 22(2)(b)(IV) of same Act.”
Olalekan talk say na true, he guilty for the two charges.
Based on that, EFCC lawyer, Sesan Ola, carry one investigator, Paul Aniebonam, come testify say Olalekan create fake online profile to deceive and scam foreign people.
Aniebonam tell court say the guy use money from the scam take buy the Benz in October 2024, and di N124 million inside bank account come from similar bad deals.
He also bring evidence like bank statement, motor paper, phone and four statements wey Olalekan don write before.
Justice Awogboro come sentence Olalekan to 12 months for each charge, and di two go run one after the other.
Court also order say make Federal Government of Nigeria take over all di property wey dem trace to Olalekan.
