$53,000 Scam: Court Jails Graduate Two Years for Impersonating Singer Flavour
Justice Dehinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos has convicted and sentenced one Ikpaka Courage to two years imprisonment for presenting himself as Chinedu Okoli, also known as Flavour, a Nigerian singer.
A statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said the convict duped a United States of America citizen, Yvelte Thompson of the sum of $53,000.
Courage, a graduate of Philosophy, was arraigned on Tuesday by the Lagos Directorate of the EFCC on a two-count charge bordering on cybercrimes and money laundering.
Courage pleaded “guilty” to the charges when they were read to him.
Following his guilty plea, the prosecution counsel, S.I Suleiman, presented a witness, Azibagiri Dan Ekpar, an operative of the EFCC, to review the facts of the case.
The defendant, Ekpar said, was arrested in Lagos on June 10, 2024. He added: “Upon his arrest by operatives of the Lagos Directorate, he volunteered his statement.
“In his statement, he confessed to have been involved in a dating scam, and that he used his platform to impersonate Chinedu Okoli a.k.a. Flavour N’abania.
“He also confessed to having obtained the sum of $53,000 (Fifty-three Thousand United States Dollar) from one Mrs. Yvette M. Thompson under the pretence that he would perform on her birthday in Washington DC in July 2021.
“The money was transferred through a Bitcoin wallet he created in order to receive the proceeds of crime.” In his further review of the facts, Ekpar said:
“He also admitted to have forged the Nigerian international passport data page of Mr Chinedu Okoli a.k.a. Flavour N’abania and also created a fictitious email address, which he used to communicate with the victim.
“He had restituted the sum of N7, 900,000 (Seven Million, Nine Hundred Thousand Naira) by raising a managers’ Cheque.”
Suleiman, thereafter, applied to tender, in evidence, the defendant’s extra-judicial statement, and bank’s statement, a printout of chats between him and the victim as well as the Bitcoin wallet statement from Binance.
Justice Dipeolu admitted them as exhibits. Counsel to the convict, Bayo A. Phillip, prayed the court to “temper justice with mercy”, adding that “he is a first-time offender and he did not waste the time of the court.
Consequently, Justice Dipeolu convicted and sentenced the defendant to one year imprisonment on count one, with an option of a fine of N1,000,000.
He was also convicted and sentenced to one-year imprisonment on count two, with an option of a fine of N1,000,000.
The Judge ordered that the money be forfeited to the petitioner and also remanded the convict in EFCC custody pending the fulfilment of the order within 21 days.
Courage’s journey to the Correctional Centre began when he was arrested by operatives of the Lagos Directorate of the EFCC for internet fraud. He was charged to court and convicted.
