A 21-year-old online scammer named Ifeanyi Egbuwu admitted in court that he used the money from his frauds to buy clothes and bury his father. The judge consequently gave him a one-year prison term.
On August 2, 2022, Egbuwu was taken into custody by agents from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission who were searching for many online scammers at 42, Ola Williams Street, Kay Farm Estate, Iju, Lagos State.
The suspect, who claimed to have recently graduated from Oregun Senior High School, was taken into custody without anything being found on him. But the bogus documents were found in his email account, omohhenry79@gmail, which he gave the EFCC access to.
He was then brought before Lagos’ Special Offenses Court’s Justice R.A. Oshodi.
The 21-year-old admitted to the anti-graft commission during his trial that he earned N500,000 from his fraudulent operations. He also said that he used some of the money to buy an iPhone X and some of it to pay for his father’s funeral.
The judge declared that she would find the defendant guilty of possessing forged documents on one count.
“The defendant acknowledged that he received N500,000 from his crime when questioned under oath. Out of the N500,000, he claimed to have spent N230,000 on an iPhone X. Additionally, he said that he paid for his father’s funeral and clothing with the proceeds of his crime. A defendant’s guilty plea is equivalent to an acknowledgment of guilt under criminal law.
IFEANYI FAVOR EGBUWU I’ve heard your heartfelt cries for mercy. I find it shocking that you would engage in fraudulent activity at the age of 21. You acknowledged that you were detained by the commission for more than a week. You must have had a lesson learned, and I’m sure you are aware of the consequences of being detained. It takes away your freedoms.
You have shown that you are sorry, and I am only convinced to the extent that you are a first-time offender by your attorney’s argument. However, I won’t let you keep any of the kobo from your illegal earnings. Because of this, I find you guilty and sentence you to a year in prison with a possible N300,000 fine and 100 hours of community service in the Maximum Custodial Center, Kirikiri, to be served at the High Court of Lagos State’s registry.
The judge also stated that because he had previously engaged in fraud, he would be required to perform hair barbering as part of his community service.
