A High Court in Kaduna State made a big decision on Thursday. The court said a man named Stephen James must give up his Samsung S20 phone, 3 HP laptops, three fancy cars, and N9.5 million (that’s a lot of money) to the federal government.
The judge, Justice Dairus Khobo, said Stephen was guilty of cheating people on the internet and gave him two choices. He could spend 10 months in jail, or he could pay a fine of N300,000 instead.
Before this, a lawyer from the EFCC named P.C. Oyeneho, explained what happened. He said Stephen got caught after police learned about a group of scammers in a place called Ungwan Sarki.
Stephen pretended to be a man named “David Richard” on Instagram. He tricked someone named Ryan Frank into believing he was an American soldier. Ryan Frank was one of the people Stephen fooled.
Stephen ended up taking N8 million from Ryan Frank between the years 2023 and 2024. With this money, Stephen bought a Mercedes Benz C1300, a Toyota Lexus E350, a Lexus E330, and he had N9.5 million in cash!
What Stephen did was a crime and against the law, so there are rules that say he has to be punished.
The EFCC lawyer, P.C. Onyeneho, told the court all about Stephen’s wrongdoings. They even showed the judge the phones, laptops, and cars they took from Stephen when they arrested him, as proof.
The lawyer told the judge to find Stephen guilty because of all the evidence and Stephen’s own words, admitting what he did.