Courts jail 6 KWASU students for internet fraud

Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin and Justice Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court in Ilorin have sentenced six students of the Kwara State University (KWASU) to various jail terms over internet fraud.

The students were sentenced to prison on Monday, March 18, 2024, after pleading guilty to one-count separate charges following their arraignment by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The six convicts are among the 48 KWASU students recently arrested by the EFCC.

The convicts are Aransiola Oluwaseun Stephen, Owoeye Adeyanju Ezekiel, Idris Yekini Kayode, Abdulrahman Abubakar, Rafiu Ashimiu Adisa, and Raheem Ayomide Monsur.

EFCC arrests 48 KWASU students, 2 others for internet fraud

The charges against Stephen read: “That you, Aransiola Oluwaseun Stephen in February 2024  in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction  of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Cindy Watson, a White female, based in United States of America, and in that guise induced one Randy Driskill to send you the sum of $350 which you did receive via gift cards thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Law and Punishable under Section 324 of the same law.”

All the defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges when they were read to them.

Following their “guilty pleas”, the EFCC’s counsels, Innocent Mbachie, Adebayo Aliyu, Charles Oni, and Rasheedat Alao reviewed the facts of the cases and tendered the statements and items recovered from the internet fraudsters at the point of arrest, which were admitted in evidence.

The judges, thereafter, convicted and sentenced them accordingly.

They also ordered that the phones and laptops recovered from the internet fraudsters, as well as balances in their bank accounts be forfeited to the Federal Government.

The Star