18- year- old boy bags two- year jail term over $ 50 Internet fraud
JIsmail Ijelu of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced an 18- year- old boy, Bilabi Henry Gift, to two years imprisonment with an option of N1 million fine for committing internet fraud.
The judge also ordered that the convict carry out a six- hour community service everyday for three months.
Gift was charged with obtaining money by false pretence, contrary to Section 1( 1) ( a) and 1( 3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No: 14 of 2006.
According to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) prosecutor, Ahmed Yerima, the convict, between January 2023 and September 2023, deceitfully obtained an aggregate sum of $ 50 ( about N75, 000) from unsuspecting members of the public, by falsely representing to them that he was a female by the name Grace David, and that the said amount was an advance payment for a hookup.
The prosecutor said: “Bilabi Henry Gift, on October 10, 2023, had in his possession a document printed from his iphone 7, titled: ‘ California Identity Card’, purportedly issued in favour of one Sukarna Tina Octavia, in order to defraud unsuspecting members of the public, which document he knew to be false.”
Before his conviction, Gift, the son of a cleaner, said: “I realised my mistake after being in EFCC custody and I promise not to do it again.”
Lamenting after the judgment, his father said: “I have never had any case with the police before, let alone come to court. I never noticed he was involved in fraud. He doesn’t have a laptop and his mother bought the phone he was using. We don’t know where to get N1 million and we wish we could appeal.”