Man bags 6 months imprisonment over $20,000 internet fraud

Justice Peter Mallong of the Federal High Court Kaduna, on Monday sentenced one Thomas Austin to six months in prison over $20,000 internet fraud.

It was reported that Austin was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Kaduna Zonal Office.

Austin was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Justice Mallong sentenced the convict to six months imprisonment, with a fine of N100,000.

“This sentence is to serve as a deterrent and punishment for the offences he committed knowingly,” the judge held, and warned him not to indulge in any further act of criminality.

Mallong also ordered that the draft of N$20,000 brought by the convict as restitution and the phone recovered from him, being the instrument used in perpetrating the crime, should be forfeited to the Federal Government.

Earlier, Counsel to the EFCC, E.K. Garba, told the court that the agency received anonymous petition from some concerned citizens in Malali Kaduna, about the activities of some internet fraudsters.

Garba said that the commission swiftly placed surveillance on the area and on the February 18, raided a place leading to the arrest of the defendant and other suspects.

He told the court that an iPhone and the sum of $20,000 were recovered from the convict.

The counsel said that the offence was contrary to Section 321 and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code.

In respect of the guilty plea, Garba urged the court to sentence Austin in accordance with the law.