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By 
May 24, 2019
On Tuesday, May 21,
2019, Justice M.S. Hassan of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, convicted
and sentenced Paul Duru and Edet Efiong Daniel, to one year in prison each for
Internet fraud. The convicts were
arrested in February 2019, following a petition received by the Commission from
a new generation bank.
The financial
institution allegedly discovered some suspicious transactions on an account
belonging to Duru, who was subsequently arrested by operatives of the EFCC.
His arrest led to the
apprehension of Daniel.
Duru was hired by
Daniel, a cat fisher, who presented himself as Arbara Williams, a 27-year-old
Caucasian.
A cat fisher is an
individual who uses the Internet, and in particular, online dating websites to
lure people into a scam romance.
Duru had a ‘picker’ in
the United States of America, USA, one John T. Benn, who received money in
Dollars and sent to him.
On his part, Daniel
had a relationship with one Sung Yong Hwa, a Korean and Peter Davito, a
Canadian.
The charge reads:
“That you, Paul Duru and Edet Efiong Daniel, sometime in February 2019, in
Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently
impersonated a white man online with intent to gain advantage for yourselves
and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22
(3) and (4) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention etc) Act, 2015.” .
The defendants pleaded
“guilty” to the charge.
Delivering judgment,
Justice Hassan convicted and sentenced the defendants to one year imprisonment
each without an option of fine.
The Judge further
ordered the forfeiture of two laptops, two phones, the sum of N17,500,000
belonging to Daniel and the sum of N2,500,000 belonging to Duru to the Federal
Government.
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