EFCC secures conviction of two for crypto, Facebook scams in Abuja

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Zonal Command in Abuja has convicted two male fraudsters, Canice Agabi and Nwozor Martins, on charges of impersonation and fraud.

Agabi, sometime in 2021 in Abuja, falsely represented himself as an American citizen and created an Instagram account with the username Randy Sylvester, according to EFCC.

The anti-graft agency said that Agabi, under the Instagram username ‘Randy Sylvester, deceived Anne Fuscelaro, a United States citizen, and benefitted a total of $1,000 from her.

EFCC also added that Agabi misled Fuscelaro into believing that he was into Bitcoin Investment and that, she could earn a good return on investment if she invested in his cryptocurrency company, Prime Cash Investment, a fact he knew was false.

Agabi’s offence is contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Act, Laws of the Federation (Abuja) 1990, and punishable under Section 324 of the same Act”.

He, however, pleaded guilty.

Following his guilty plea, Justice A.Y. Shafa of the FCT High Court, Gwagwalada, convicted and sentenced Agabi to three months imprisonment with an option of ₦200,000 fine.

The convict, who had earlier returned $200, is to pay a further sum of ₦623,000 in restitution to the Federation Account.

Justice Shafa also ordered that Agabi’s Samsung Note 10 mobile phone, which he used to commit the crime, be burned on the court premises.

In the same vein, Justice Shafa also convicted Nwozor Martins following his guilty plea to one count of fraud

EFCC accused Nwozor of posing as Camela Onyinye, a female Nigerian citizen and a purported Chief Executive of Binary Trade Investment.

It added that Nwozor uploaded and knowingly substituted Onyinye’s picture with his on his Facebook social platform and WhatsApp profile account number 0807446172 to defraud a certain Bashir Bello and others. which he benefited a sum of ₦570,000.00.

The court, however, sentenced Nwozor to three months in prison with an option of a fine of ₦200, 000. Nwozor, who had earlier refunded ₦200,000 as restitution, is to pay the balance of ₦370,000 to the Federation account, and his iPhone and Tecno phones are also to be burned on the court premises.