Eight Yahoo boys jailed for impersonation in Abuja

On May 10, 2023, eight internet fraudsters were found guilty before Justices Chinyere Nwecheonu, A.A. Akobi, A.I. Kutigi, and V.S. Garba of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abuja Zonal Command.

In front of Justice Nwecheonwu of the FCT High Court, Kuje, five of the convicts—Emmanuel Ogochukwu, Ugochukwu Mathias and Aderele Adekunle, Abdullahi Adebola Ayinde, and Matthew Ushie Adie—were charged with one count each.

On the Facebook network, Ogochukwu defrauded one Yen Tran by posing as Kob Sook Dennis. Ugochukwu defrauded trusting females of $400 (four hundred US dollars) while posing as Arjun Sharma on Instagram.

While Abdullahi created an Instagram account under the name of an American actor named Tom Cruise and in that assumed character obtained the sum of $80 (Eighty US Dollars) from one Anne Line Bergh alias Sarafina Carly, a Norwegian citizen, Aderele pretended to be one Finalisa, the daughter of one Lee Bruce, a contractor from Hong Kong, and obtained the sum of 3000 RMB (Three Thousand Renminbi).

All five defendants were given the following prison terms and fine choices by Justice Nwecheonu: Aderele must pay a fine of N300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand Naira), while Emmanuel Ogochukwu and Abdullahi received fines of N200,000 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira) each. Adie and Ugochukwu both received a fine of N250,000 (two hundred and fifty thousand naira).

All convicted individuals must also provide the federal government with the proceeds of their crimes as forfeit.