The Federal High Court in Abeokuta, Ogun State has convicted one Daniel Rabiu of cybercrime, ordering him to make a refund of $500 to his victim.
The court also ordered the convict to forfeit two iPhones and a laptop computer, which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recovered from him.
In her ruling, Justice Watilat Ibrahim sentenced Rabiu, who held himself out on Facebook as Agent Howard Hall, to four months’ imprisonment.
According to EFCC’s spokesman, Tony Orilade, the convict entered into a plea bargain with the EFCC, and pleaded guilty to the one count filed against him.
The prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Suleman, had earlier told the court that Rabiu committed the offence on June 23, 2018.
Suleman explained that Rabiu held himself out on Facebook as “Agent Howard Hall, working for the Government/Facebook Compensation bonus and poverty eradication.”
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He said the convict made the false representation online “in order to gain undue advantage,” adding that by doing so, he violated Section 22 (3) (a) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015, and was liable to be punished under Section 22 (4) of the same Act.
Similarly, the same judge had also convicted one Gbolahon Osikoya, alias Lisa Burkholder, of cybercrime and sentenced him to four months’ imprisonment.
Like Rabiu, Oshikoya was arraigned on one count on December 10, 2018 before Justice Ibrahim in Abeokuta.
According to the EFCC, he “knowingly sent pornographic and indecent pictures with your e-mail through a computer system and network to one Michael Lukianoff.”
The prosecutor, Suleman, noted that Oshikoya committed the offence sometime in 2018 at Awa-Ijebu, Ogun State.
Oshikoya also entered into a plea bargain with the EFCC and pleaded guilty to the count, following which the judge pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to four months’ imprisonment, starting from the day he was arrested.
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