EFCC convicts one for Cryptocurrency fraud

Admin l Wednesday, 22 February 2023

 

LAGOS – The Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 secured the conviction and sentencing of one ENOFE DESTINY who was arraigned before Justice R.A. Oshodi of a Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.

He was arraigned on an amended one-count charge bordering on possession of documents containing false pretence contrary to Section 318 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.

The count reads: “ENOFE DESTINY, sometime on the 21st of September, 2022 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your possession, a Facebook profile of a Chinese celebrity Allen Ren which you created for the purpose of false representation of yourself as Allen Ren, a representation of which from the circumstance of this case you knew or reasonably ought to know to be false pretence.”

He pleaded “guilty” to the charge. Following his guilty plea, the prosecuting counsel, G.C. Akaogu, gave a review of the facts to prove the case against the defendant.

“Sometime in September 2022, operatives of the EFCC following intelligence report, conducted a raid in Lekki, Lagos State, wherein the defendant was arrested alongside other suspected fraudsters engaging cryptocurrency fraud and bank fraud,” he said.

According to him, upon his arrest, one iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone X, an unregistered white coloured Mercedes Benz GLE 43, 2018 model, and 26 bundles of N100 totaling N260,000.00 were recovered from him.

“After his arrest, his phone was analyzed in his presence and bundles of fraudulent documents were printed out in his presence,” he said.

The documents among others, he said, included a conversation wherein he fraudulently represented himself in a Facebook profile as a Chinese celebrity Allen Ren, which he created for the purpose of defrauding his victims.

“When he was confronted with the said documents, he admitted to engaging in dating and romance scam,” he said.

Akaogu further added that a bitcoin wallet total of 2.05689805 BTC worth $39,212.31 USD (Thirty-Nine Thousand, Two Hundred and Twelve  United States Dollars, Thirty-One Cents) were recovered from him.

The prosecution thereafter tendered in evidence the confessional statements of the defendant, the bundle of fraudulent documents printed out from his devices as well as a copy of the EFCC exhibit form, and other otems recovered from him. They were all admitted in evidence against him.

Thereafter, the prosecution urged the court to convict the defendant as charged and to also order the forfeiture of the items recovered from him to the Federal Government. Justice Oshodi, thereafter, declared him guilty as charged.

In the allocutus, defence counsel, Melvin Obadea, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy.  Delivering judgement, Justice Oshodi sentenced him to one year in prison, he was however given an option of fine of N5 million with 200 hours community service. Items recovered from him were also ordered forfeited to the Federal Government.