Internet scam: Court jails undergraduate for five years

ABUJA—The Kaduna Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, sentenced an undergraduate of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Mr Olasaidi Dare, to five years imprisonment after he was found guilty of attempting to obtain money under false pretence via the internet.

Dare was apprehended by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which traced him to a Cyber Cafe belonging to a former member of the National Assembly, Senator Olabode Ola, in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

According to the anti-graft agency, the convicted undergraduate, who was said to belong to a 419-syndicate, was arrested on March 31, 2008, at the said Cyber Cafe which is located inside a hotel, after he attempted to dupe an operative who posed as a wealthy foreigner.

He was arrested alongside the manager of the hotel who was said to have been convicted by the same court ab-initio.
Handing the 5-years jail term to Dare yesterday, trial Justice Lawal Shuaibu said his imprisonment should take effect from the date he was arrested.

Meanwhile, the erstwhile lawmaker, Senator Ola, is also standing trial before an Ekiti High Court over alleged illegal use of his premises for internet scam, otherwise known as “yahoo-yahoo”, as well as his failure to register his Cyber Cafe with all the regulatory agencies, including the EFCC.

The agency told the trial court that it had in an operation code-named “Cyberstorm-1”, raided illegal cyber cafes across the nation, which were believed to have accorded safe haven to internet fraudsters.

It said the operation which took place in March 2008, culminated in several arrests, saying most of the syndicates were caught in shoddy cyber cafes where they operated.