Court sentences job-seeker to one year in prison for dating scam

The Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja, on Wednesday, sentenced a job-seeker, Olanrewaju Abbas, to one-year imprisonment for a dating scam.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned the convict for being in possession of false documents to defraud people on a dating website.

Justice Rahmon Oshsodi convicted Abbas after he pleaded guilty plea to the one-count charge of possession of a false document.

Oshodi, however, gave the convict an option of a N100,000 fine and ordered that all items recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal Government.

The EFCC counsel, Umar Kyari, in his review of facts, told the court that the convict was among a number of suspected cybercriminals arrested by the commission’s operatives in Baruwa, Iyana-Ipaja area Lagos.

READ ALSO: Man arrested in Japan for dating, defrauding 35 women

Kyari said: “He was arrested on October 19 2021 alongside others and under interrogation, he admitted to engaging in dating scam and identity theft.

“He confessed that he usually disguises himself as a female with many of his targets being in Australia.

“An iPhone 8 was recovered from him which was the proceed of the crime, from which he benefited more than N400,000 and $100 dollars.”

The prosecution, thereafter, tendered in evidence the convict’s extrajudicial statement, the fraudulent documents printed out from his device, the manager’s cheque of N400,000 issued as restitution, and the iPhone.

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