Fraudster posing as woman forfeits phones, laptop, jailed

 Juliana Francis

Mr. Sanwiyu Abolore Toyosi (27) has bagged five months imprisonment for posing as female and defrauding unsuspecting victims via the internet.

Toyosi was arraigned before Justice Mohammed Abubakar of the Federal High Court 2, sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State, yesterday, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Toyosi was convicted on the one-count amended charge filed against him by the EFCC, Ibadan zonal office. The offence contravenes Section 22 (3)(b) and punishable under Section 22 (4) of the Cybercrimes  (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015.

Toyosi was initially arraigned on a two-count charge to which he pleaded ‘not guilty.’ The charge was, however, amended due to his plea bargain agreement with the Commission.

The amended charge reads: "That you, Sanwiyu Abolore Toyosi sometimes in 2019, at Abeokuta, Ogun State, within the jurisdiction of the honourable court, impersonated Mary Toni via your email, marytoni98@gmail.com wherein you falsely represented that you are a female known as Mary Toni, which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (3)(b) and punishable under section 22 (4) of the Cybercrimes  (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015."

When the charge was read to him at the court yesterday, the defendant pleaded guilty to charge. Owing to the guilty plea, EFCC's counsel, Shamsudeen Bashir, prayed the court to accept the plea bargain agreement and sentence him accordingly.

The presiding judge thereafter sentenced the defendant to five months in prison with effect from April 25, 2019, the day he was arrested.

The court also ordered that the convict forfeits his Infinix phone, Dell laptop, Dell charger, Nokia phone, and Itel phone to the Federal Government of Nigeria, being part of the benefit he derived from his fraudulent act.

Similarly, Justice I.M Sani of the Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on July 4, 2019, convicted and sentenced Louis Idehen Osahumen to 10 months imprisonment for internet- related offences.

Osahumen was arraigned by the EFCC, Port Harcourt’s Zonal Office, on one-count charge bordering on impersonation, contrary to  Section 22(3) (a) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 punishable under Section 22(4) of the same Act.

The count charge read: "That you, Louis Idehen Osahumen (aka Cheng Louis), on or about December 2018, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court fraudulently impersonated Cheng Louis, a United States of America Soldier, with intent to gain advantage for yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(3) (a) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 punishable under Section 22(4) of the same Act.”

He pleaded ‘guilty’ to the one- count charge.

In view of his plea, prosecuting counsel, S. Chime, prayed the court to convict and sentence him accordingly. However, defence counsel, D.E Ibiama, pleaded with the court for leniency. Justice Sani convicted and sentenced Osahumen to 10 months imprisonment without an option of fine.

Osahumen’s journey to prison began when the EFCC received an intelligence report alleging a case of impersonation, possession of scam documents and obtaining money by false pretence against him.

Investigation showed that the convict scammed some Chinese women in 2018 with his Samsung GalaxyJ5 and Airtel SIM card number 09021045826 through Wechat with a username "chenlouis." 

The convict confessed impersonating a United States of American soldier whom he regularly used as a decoy to defraud his victims.