2 Nigerians Jailed For Impersonating Americans Online

2 Nigerians Jailed For Impersonating Americans Online

An High Court Sitting in Ilorin Kwara state yesterday sentenced two Internet fraudsters to 6 months imprisonment.

The convicts, Paul Chibueze Meshak and Babatunde Muhammed Bashir, were arraigned by the Ilorin zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on offences bordering on Internet fraud and other fraud related offences.

The charge against Babatunde read:

“That you, Babatunde Mohammed Bashir, on or about the 20th day of September, 2019 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of the High Court of Kwara State, did attempt to cheat by impersonation, when you represented yourself as a detective and requested Mr. Elian Torres Saucedo to send $500 gift card to you, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code.”

The charge against Paul read:

“That you, Paul Chibueze Meshack (alias Robert Hicks), sometime in June, 2019, in Ilorin within the judicial division of the Kwara State High Court, did attempt to cheat by impersonation, when you pretended to be Robert Hicks of the HR Department of Amerigroup Corporation with gmail account: [email protected] and in that guise communicated with Jessica Winter of Wiltshire England vide gmail hangout with jess winter, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code.”

The defendants pleaded guilty.

Justice Sikiru Oyinloye held that the evidence of the sole prosecution witness, Olamide Sadiq, an operative of the EFCC, was not challenged or controverted by the defendants.

“I hereby found them guilty as charged and sentenced them to six months imprisonment.”