Lecturer, twins jailed for Internet fraud, love scam in Kwara

A lecturer at the Kwara State College of Health Technology, Offa, Abdullahi Opashola, and twin brothers, Taiye and Kehinde Adebayo, on Thursday, were convicted by Justice Adenike Akinpelu of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, over offences bordering on impersonation and Internet fraud.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecuted Opashola on a separate one-count charge, while the Adebayos were prosecuted on seven counts each, which they all pleaded guilty to.

In a statement released by Wilson Iwijaren, Head, Media and Publicity, EFCC, the charge against Opashola read: “That you, Opashola Abdullahi, (alias Devin Snow), sometime in August 2020 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did attempt to cheat by impersonation, by portraying yourself as a female, named Devine Snow, via your email address, [email protected], to one Eugene Myvett, to induce him to send you $200, a representation you knew to be false, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 95 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same law.”

Meanwhile, the charge against Taiye read: “That you, Taiye Adebayo, sometime in January 2020, at Ilorin, within the judicial division of the Kwara State High Court, did cheat one Gary Brenton, who you met on TWOO dating site, of the sum of $490 received via gift cards when you pretended to be a female, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 320 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 322 of the same Penal Code.”

Read also: EFCC arrests medical doctor, 17 other alleged internet fraudsters in Owerri

Following the guilty plea of the defendants, two operatives of the EFCC, Paul Kera and Emezie Dominic testified against Opashola and the twins, respectively.

Delivering judgment on the two cases, Justice Akinpelu found Opashola guilty of the charge against him and sentenced him to four months’ imprisonment, however, the 26-year-old lecturer was given an option to pay a fine of N150,000.

Meanwhile, for Taiye and Kehinde, Justice Akinpelu pronounced each of them guilty as charged and sentenced them to 42 months imprisonment each (six months on each of the seven counts) preferred against them, however, she gave the brothers an option of fine of N50,000 on each of the count.

He ordered that the laptops and phones used by the convicts to commit the crimes to be forfeited to the Federal Government.

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