Justice N.I. Afolabi of the Federal High Court sitting in Lafia, Nassarawa State has convicted and sentenced two under-aged internet fraudsters: Akhetuamhen Clinton, 15, and Obinyan Peter, 17, to different suspended jail terms, for cybercrime.

They were both jailed on Tuesday, July 5, 2022 after pleading guilty to one count separate charge bordering on cybercrime, upon their arraignment by the Abuja Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

They pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to them.

Justice Afolabi therefore convicted and sentenced Clinton to two-year suspended sentence. The judge ordered him to close down his bank account and banned from using a phone or any computer except for academic purposes, till he turns 18 years. Peter, on the other hand, has a one year suspended sentence and is to return all proceeds of his crime to the Federal Government. Both convicts are also to close down their social media accounts and barred from going on social media.

In addition, both convicts, with the supervision of officials of EFCC and their parents or guardians, are expected to report back to the court on December 7, 2022 with their report cards and statements of good conduct from their teachers and schools. A bad report will mean that they will be in prison to serve their jail terms.

Clinton bagged the suspended sentence for using his MacBook Air laptop to fraudulently impersonate one Feng Zhang, living in China, with the intent of gaining advantage for himself while Obiyan created a Facebook account impersonating Jerry Wang from Hong Kong with the intention of taking advantage of unsuspecting users of the app for his fraudulent purposes.

Media & Publicity

7 July, 2022