The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges. In view of their pleas, prosecution counsel, K. A. Yunus, A. J. Obagie and A. Abubakar prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendants as charged
Justice P.I. Ajoku of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has convicted and sentenced three internet fraud kingpins, Gospel Asawari, Asuquo Daniel Bright and Chile Mark Chioma to one-year jail term each for impersonation and obtaining money by false pretence contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015, and punishable under Section 22 (2) of the same Act.
They were jailed on Thursday July 20, 2023, after pleading “guilty” to separate one-count charges brought against them by the Port Harcourt Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Asawari’s charge reads: “That you, Gospel Asawari on or about the 5th day of June 2023 in Port Harcourt, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to gain advantage for yourself, fraudulently created several false Facebook accounts using Sam Heugen, Susan Asley, Mhiz Enisom Goodluck and prosper Asawari whilst impersonating different foreign individuals, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015, and punishable under Section 22 (2) of the same Act”.
Bright’s charge reads: “That you Asuquo Daniel Bright, on or about the 15th January 2023, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court fraudulently impersonated one Doak John, via your Gmail account doakjohn78@gmail.com with intent to gain advantage for yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015, and punishable under Section 22 (2) of the same Act”.
The charge against Chioma reads: “That you, Chile Mark Chioma (aka Stacey Welch, Coimarket Cap) on or about the 18th of May 2023, at Rivftaf, Golf Estate in Port Harcourt, River State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, obtained the total sum of One Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty Stellar Lumens, a Crypto Currency (1,850.00 XLM) only which is equivalent to One Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($150USD) from one Eric Paolo Baraquero, a citizen of the United States of America, under the pretence that the said sum would be used for investment in bitcoin, a pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act”.
The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges. In view of their pleas, prosecution counsel, K. A. Yunus, A. J. Obagie and A. Abubakar prayed the court to convict and sentence the defendants as charged.
Counsel to the defendants, G. N. Chukwu, B. F. Esaenwi and E. S. Aluzu however urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
Justice Ajoku convicted and sentenced the defendants to one-year imprisonment each with Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N200, 000.00) as the option of fine payable into the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Judge also ordered that one Infinix Smart 6 plus, one black iPhone XR, one iPhone 13 Pro Max, the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($150.00USD) and one iPhone 8 mobile device recovered from the convicts be forfeited to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Court also ordered that the convicts should depose an affidavit of good behaviour.
The convicts were arrested by operatives of the Commission sometime in June 2023 during a sting operation at Rivtaf Golf Estate, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Investigation revealed that the convicts operated various fake social media accounts which they used to defraud mostly foreigners.