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The Makurdi Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction and sentencing of two internet fraudsters.
The convicts : Francis Ekene Kerry and Francis Emmanuel Chibuike, were jailed on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 by Justice A. R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
They were convicted after pleading guilty to a one- count separate charge preferred against them by the EFCC.
The charge against Kerry reads:
“That you, Francis Ekene Kerry, sometime in 2022 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud advertised to the public on your Instagram account named Official Page of Petra-Techz as a cyber security expert and defrauded unsuspecting foreigners, a message which materially misrepresented facts and caused the recipients a cumulative loss of N1, 535,471 (One Million, Five Hundred and Thirty Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Seventy One Naira only ) and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 14(2) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015″.
They both pleaded “guilty” to the charges when they were read to them.
In view of their pleas, prosecution counsels: George Chai-Yakua, reviewed the facts of the cases before the court, while praying that the defendants be convicted and sentenced accordingly.
Delivering judgment, Justice Muhammed convicted and sentenced Kerry to one year imprisonment, with an option of fine of N200,000.00 ( Two Hundred Thousand Naira).
Chibuike was also convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment, with an option of fine of N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira Only).
The two convicts started their journey to the Correctional Centre, when they were arrested by operatives of the Makurdi Zonal Command of the EFCC for impersonating foreigners and defrauding their victims through false claims.