By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos has convicted a scammer, Mr Iweregbu Daniel Chima and sentenced him to one and a half years imprisonment for defrauding his unsuspecting victims through online to the tune of $166,000.
The convict who was charged to court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was said to have created many social media accounts and presented himself as Larry Pham in pretense and defrauded his unsuspecting victims, mostly females, to the tune of $166,000 between July 2017 and June 2018.
He was arraigned on December 4, 2020 on a three-count charge bordering on cheating, obtaining by false pretence and retention of proceeds of crime following a report received by the Commission from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, (FBI) about his involvement in computer-related fraud.
After hearing the charge proffered against him, Iweregbu Daniel Chima pleaded “guilty” to all the counts.
Consequent upon the plea of the convict, the prosecution counsel, Bilikisu Bala Buhari, while reviewing the facts of the case, urged the court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
In her judgement, Justice Taiwo convicted and sentenced Iweregbu Daniel Chima to 18 months imprisonment, but with an option of fine of N300,000.00.
The convict was ordered to pay the sum of $15,000 in favour of the United States Consulate, being refund of part of the money he had unlawfully benefitted.
