Joseph Bakare
The Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction and sentencing of two internet fraudsters before Justice Balarabe Buhari of the Kaduna State High Court sitting in Kaduna.
They were jailed on Wednesday April 3, 2024 on one- count separate charges bordering on cybercrimes.
The convicts are Aaron Barnabas (a.k.a Helena Antonio) and Bosan Godwin Yacham(a.k.a Will Parfitt).
The one -count charge for Barnabas reads:” Aaron Barnabas (a.k.a Helena Antonio) Sometimes in October, 2023 in Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, impersonated one Helena Antonio on Facebook, obtained the sum of $200 (Two Hundred United States of America Dollars) from Mauro Nunes and unsuspecting persons, and you thereby committed cheating by impersonation, an offence contrary to Section 308 of the Penal Code Law, 2017 of Kaduna State and punishable under Section 309 of the same Law.”
The charge for Yacham reads; “Bosan Godwin Yacham (a.k.a Linnette Pickard) Male, sometimes in November, 2023 in Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, impersonated one Will Parfitt from Australia on Facebook, obtained the sum of $100 (One Hundred United States of America Dollars) from Elizabeth Fier and unsuspecting persons, and you thereby committed cheating by impersonation, an offence contrary to Section 308 of the Penal Code Law, 2017 of Kaduna State and punishable under Section 309 of the same Law.”
They all pleaded guilty to their one- count charges respectively when they were read to them, prompting the prosecuting counsel, Y.J Matiyak to pray the court to convict and sentence them accordingly.
Justice Buhari consequently convicted and sentenced them to two years imprisonment each or pay a fine of N150,000.00 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira )each. They also forfeited their phones used to commit the offences to the government. While Barnabas restituted the sum of $200( (Two Hundred United States of America Dollar), Yacham restituted $100 (One Hundred United States America Dollars) to the government.
The convicts’ journey to the Correctional Centre began when they were arrested at Keffi, Nasarawa state following a sting operation conducted by Operatives of the Kaduna Zonal Command working on intelligence. Investigations showed that they fraudulently assumed identities of foreigners to create fictitious social media accounts to defraud unsuspecting victims of their hard- earned money.