Justice S.A. Amobeda of the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State on Monday, April 15, 2019, convicted and sentenced Chigozie Bright, Kingsley Anyasor, Osinachi Samdavid, Oyasi Desmond, Benice Anosike and Martins Ekpemadu to six months in prison each, for internet fraud.
The six convicts were said to have committed the offences at different times and charged separately by the Uyo Zonal Office of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Bright, who also goes by Abdul Esther on April 5, 2019, falsely presented himself as a Syrian widow to Jose Luis Cruz Diaz through the email, abdulesther7@gmail.com.
Anyasor alias Rasha Ademar on March 3, 2019, pretended to be Rasha Ademar of Instanbul, Turkey using same to obtain money from one Jorge Davila.
Osinachi alias Maya Ahmed on April 4, 2019 also presented himself to one Rafiq Dayi as a widowed Syrian refugee, using the email, mayaahmed093@gmail.com, with the sole aim of defrauding Rafiq.
Oyasi alias James Williams on the other hand, pretended to be a caucasian male and obtained as much as $226,578.96(Two Hundred and Twenty Six Thousand Five Hundred and Seventy Eight Dollars Ninety Six Cents) from one Ribeiro Anthonia a Hong Kong Nationale, between March 5 and June 19, 2019.
Anosike alias Sarah Abdul on April 3, 2019, posed as a foreigner named Keri with the email, sarahabdul309@gmail.com to defraud his unsuspecting victims.
Ekpemadu alias Selda Abu on April 2, 2019, also faked his identity and succeeded in defrauding one Ivan Horvat.
They pleaded “guilty” to the offence.
In view of the guilty plea and the plea bargain agreement between the prosecution and the defence, Justice Amobeda convicted them accordingly, and gave each of them an option of N100,000 as fine.
They were also ordered to forfeit all the instruments used in committing the said crime, to the Federal Government, including their three bedroom and two bedroom apartments.