Court jails internet fraudster for duping Australian $5,576

The High Court sitting in Jikwoyi, Abuja, has sentenced an internet fraudster, Moses Upkonahusi, to one imprisonment for defrauding an Australian, Adam Murad, $5,576.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) made the disclosure via a statement issued by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, on Friday, March 31.

Uwujaren noted that the internet fraudster was arrested on May 28, 2022, after Murad petitioned the EFCC, alleging that he fell victim to a cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme that had promised him a huge return on investment but lost a cumulative sum of 0.1108859 BTC estimated to be worth $5,576.05 to the scammer in December 2021.

Upkonahusi was later arraigned by the EFCC on a one-count charge bordering on cheating by impersonation.

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The count read: “That you, Moses Ukponahusi, Male, sometime in December 2021 at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did cheat by personation when you fraudulently created a fake investment website named https://crytoinfinitrade.com, posed as chief Executive Officer of CRPTO INFINITE TRADE by which you obtained a total Bitcoin value of 0.11088059 worth the sum of Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Twenty-Four Dollars, Twenty-nine Cents ($5,424.29USD) from Adam Murah, an Australian and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Act, LFN, 2004 and Punishable Under Section 324 of the Same Act.”

The defendant pleaded “guilty” to the charge.

However, the presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Zubair, on Monday, March 27 convicted the internet fraudster and sentenced him to one-year imprisonment with a fine option of N300,000.

Justice Zubair also directed that the recovered $5,576 be paid to Murad through the Australian High Commission in Nigeria.

The Star