The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), Makurdi Zonal Office on Thursday, December 10, 2020, secured the conviction of one Monday Segun before Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State for a one-count amended charge of identity theft.
Count reads:
“That you, Monday Segun and one other (at large), sometime in 2020, at Makurdi, in the Makurdi Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, not being an issuer or authorised agent, sold an access devices card to wit: a First Bank Card, issued in your name to one Sunday and obtained the sum of Twenty-five Thousand Naira (N25,000.00) only and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 35 of the Cybercrime ( Prohibition and Prevention Etc) Act, 2015.”
He pleaded guilty to the charge. In view of his plea, the prosecuting counsel, Mary Onoja, urged the Court to convict him accordingly.
Justice Olajuwon pronounced him guilty and sentenced him to three months imprisonment with the option of N50,000.00 (Fifty Thousand Naira) fine.
The judge also ordered that the sum of One hundred Thousand Naira (N100,000.00) shall be paid to the victim as restitution, and the balance of One Hundred and Eighty-Three Thousand Naira (183,000.00) to the complainant before the defendant can be released from the Makurdi Correctional Centre.
Segun landed in trouble following a petition in which it was alleged that he and others at large were defrauding unsuspecting members of the public using different online tricks.
Upon arrest and interrogation, he disclosed that he would usually open accounts with several banks, using different names, which he would then sell alongside the ATM cards issued to him, to other fraudsters.
He revealed that he has so far sold five of such accounts at the cost of N25,000.00 each to fraudsters.
