Internet romance scam lands two university students in jail

July 9, 2021

A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Friday, sentenced two students to Correctional Centre for love scam.

The two convicts are; Adeyemi Kehinde, final-year student of Ekiti State University, (EKSU) Ado Ekiti, and Oladosu Olalekan of Kwara State University, (KWASU),Molete.

The presiding Judge, Justice Sikiru Oyinloye gave the order, having found them guilty of offences bordering on cybercrime and romance scam.

Delivering judgment, Justice Oyinloye said that the court was convinced that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, going by the plea of guilt entered by the defendants as well as the unchallenged and uncontradicted evidence of the prosecution.

The judge, pronounced Kehinde  guilty and sentenced him to one year imprisonment, with option of fine, of N100,000.

He ordered for the forfeiture of his iPhones to the Federal Government.

Similarly, the court sentenced Olalekan to one year imprisonment, each, on count one and count two, which is to run concurrently, with option of fine, of N100,000 each, on the two counts.

On count 3, the judge only ordered the convict to pay a fine of N20,000 with no custodial sentence.

In addition, the court also ordered the forfeiture of a draft of N209,000 raised in the convict’s name (Olalekan) and his iPhone to the Federal Government.

The two convicts were arraigned on separate charges, by the Ilorin Zonal Office, of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC).

Adeyemi, alias (Queen Elizabeth) was charged on one count charge while Oladosu was prosecuted on three counts by the anti-graft agency.

The charge against Adeyemi reads: “That you, Adeyemi Kehinde (a.k.a Queen Elizabeth) sometime in February, 2020, induced one Miller, a white man to send you gift card, worth the sum of $400.

“Knowingly pretended and represented yourself to be a white lady called, Queen Elizabeth Toha, who was in love with him.

“A representation you knew to be false, as it is contained in your Google voice and Google Hangout which are linked to your gmail account: queentoha18@gmail.com.

“Thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code Laws of the Northern Nigeria.”

For Oladosu, count 2 of the Charge reads: “That you, Oladosu Olakunmi Olamilekan (Joan Davis), sometime in March, 2018, did cheat by impersonation, when you pretended to be one Mike Storey, a white male with gmail account mikestorey948personatio@gmail.com

“Fraudulently deceived one Vicki Baldwin to send $300 worth of iTunes gift card.

“Thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code.”

The two accused persons, in their separate pleas, pleaded guilty to the charge against them.

The prosecuting counsel, Sesan Ola, reviewed the facts of the case, by calling Lamidi Olanrewaju and Enoch Onyedikachi, who testified against Adeyemi and Oladosu, respectively.

The two witnesses, who are operatives of the EFCC told the court how intelligence reports led to the arrest of the convicted students at the Ilorin International Airport.

They tendered several fraudulent messages printed from their email addresses, the confessional statements of the defendants and the iPhones used as instruments of the crime. (NAN)