Posted by Fifteen online scammers have been found guilty and sentenced to different lengths of imprisonment by Justices Olusola Adetujoye, O.A. Lajide, and S.O. Adeyemi of the Oyo State High Court, which is located in Ibadan.
At their arraignment by the Ibadan Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, between January 22 and February 5, 2024, they entered a guilty plea to one count of different charges, and were subsequently placed in jail. Adebola Sherrif, one of the prisoners, was docked and found guilty on five counts.
Adebayo Ifeoluwa Timilehin, Philip Daniel, Ifemadi Haruna Segun, Okeola Olajide James Bolanle, Giwa Usman Dolapo, Olorunsola Sodiq Babatunde, Fatolu Moses Opeyemi, Bashiru Sodiq Omobolaji, Omowaye Oluwatosin Olamilekan, Badmus Yusuf Omobolaji, Lateef Ramon Olamilekan, Idowu Michael Oluwasegun, and Okunola Samuel Olalekan are the other convicted individuals.
Among the charges is this one:
“That on or about April 9, 2023, in Ibadan, Oyo State, within the jurisdiction of this honorable court, you, Okunola Samuel Olalekan, did falsely represent yourself as Joy Ella, a female from the United States of America, with the intention to defraud Older One through the Google Chat Account: joyella5774@gmail.com. Consequently, you committed the offence of impersonation in violation of Section 484 of the Criminal Code Law Cap 38, Laws of Oyo State, 2000.”
When the charges were read to the prisoners at their arraignments, they entered the plea of “guilty.” As a result, the prosecution’s attorneys pushed the courts to find them guilty and to sentence them appropriately after reviewing the case facts and presenting damaging papers as evidence.
Following their consideration of all the arguments, the judges found Yusuf, Sodiq, and Olamilekan guilty and sentenced them to six months of community service apiece; Timilehin, Daniel, Segun, Bolanle, Ramon, Oluwasegun, Sherrif, and Olalekan to one month of community service apiece.
Dolapo, Babatunde, Opeyemi, and Francis were each assigned two weeks of community work.
In addition to his punishment, Yusuf was sentenced to pay a fine of N100,000.00 (one hundred thousand naira), Olamilekan was ordered to pay N200,000.00 (two hundred thousand naira), and Sodiq was told to pay N170,000.00 (one hundred and seventy thousand naira).
The federal government was to get all items recovered from the criminals and they were all required to reimburse their individual victims.
In a related development, the Oyo State Police Command detained and turned over twin brothers Abdulrauf Taiwo and Abdulrauf Kehinde to the Ibadan Zonal Command of the EFCC for suspected involvement in online fraud, along with five other individuals, Adeyemi Samuel, Alabi Ayomide, Yekini Faroug, Hassan Olamilekan, and Ibrahim Olawale.
Among the items taken from the accused are seven phones.
According to the anti-graft agency, they have provided insightful testimonies and would face legal action as soon as the investigations are over.