The Ibadan zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has once again secured conviction of another suspected internet fraudster.
The commission secured the conviction of an Economics graduate from a public university in Southwest Nigeria, Fredrick Shuaibu, for criminal impersonation.
Fredrick was convicted and sentenced to four months imprisonment on Wednesday, April 10, 2019 by Justice Watilat Ibrahim of a Federal High Court in Abeokuta, Ogun State after pleading guilty to an amended one-count charge of fraudulent impersonation.
He was said to have used the computer and network system to fraudulently impersonate one Kristen Polochak, a white female, via his email [email protected], using same to dupe one Jim Fletcher of a sum of $1,000.
The offence, according to the charge sheet, was contrary to Section 22 (3) (b) and punishable under Section 22 (4) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015. The convict was originally arraigned on December 10, 2018 on a five-count charge. But the charges were dropped when he opted for a plea bargain.
Mabas Mabur, EFCC’s counsel, thereafter prayed the court to convict him based on the plea bargain agreement signed by both parties.
After considering the terms of the plea bargain, the presiding judge convicted and sentenced Fredrick to four months imprisonment with effect from the day he was arrested by the EFCC.
The court also ordered that he restitutes to his victim the sum of $1,000. He was also to forfeit to the Federal Government his HP laptop, a Macbook, one iPhone 6 mobile phone, one power bank, three MTN SIM cards, being part of the benefits he derived from his fraudulent acts.
