Court orders EFCC to teach internet fraudster merits, demerits of fraud

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Gwagwalada, Abuja on Thursday urged the EFCC to educate a man, Ndubisi Success convicted of internet fraud on the merits and demerits of fraud.

Success was docked by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for creating an Instagram account for the purpose of inducing unsuspecting people to deliver money to him.

He pleaded guilty to the charge and begged the court for leniency.

Delivering judgment, Justice Aliyu Shafa, convicted him and ordered him to report to the Legal Department of EFCC for one week from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

Shafa said the convict should be educated under the supervision of the Director of EFCC legal department on the merits and demerits of internet fraud and its effect on youths.

“I have carefully listened to the plea of allocutus made by the convict and the defence counsel.

“The rate of fraud in the society is so alarming. Cybercrime is a dangerous offence in our society, which must be tackled” he said.

Earlier, the convict had pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy, promising not to indulge in such act again.

“I am very sorry, I promise not to engage in such act again. Please have mercy on me,” he said.

The Defence Counsel, Mr Chibuike Chima, in support of the allocutus by the convict, told the court that Success, who had no previous conviction record was remorseful.

“Success is a young man who regrets the consequences of his act and has come to realise that there is no excuse for anyone to engage in crime under whatever guise.

“The convict is a young university dropout who could not complete his education as a result of paucity of funds.

“The convict is a first-time offender; he has not been convicted for any other crime of whatever kind in Nigeria or elsewhere. We urge my Lord to tamper justice with mercy.

“We assure this court that going forward the convict will be of good behaviour,” he said.

The EFCC Counsel, Chidike Obasi-oko, told the court that Success sometime in 2022 within the jurisdiction of the Court made an attempt to commit the offence of cheating.

Obasi-oko said that the convict created an Instagram account for the purpose of inducing people to deliver money or any goods to him.

He said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 95 of the Penal Code Act Law of the Federation (Abuja), 1990 and punishable under Section 322 of the same Act.

He pleaded with the court that the Redmi cell phone being the instrument used for the crime be forfeited to the Federal Government.