Justice Evelyn Anyadike from the Federal High Court in Awka, Anambra State, has given jail sentences to 34 people who did bad things online to trick others.
The people who went to jail include: Kelly Maduabuchi Muonagu, Nwokwu Chibuike Valerian, Chinonso Stanley Boniface, and many others like them.
More names are: Ifeanyi Celestine Akunwafor, Chinagorom Ifeanyi Destiny, Nwaugo Ifesinachi Paul, and many more who broke the law.
They were in trouble because they pretended to be other people, took money that wasn’t theirs, and lied to get things.
One example is what Kingsley did. He pretended to be someone named Erica Clark from another country to cheat people using his computer. This is against the law.
Olu did something similar. He said he was a shipping agent from another country to trick people using his phone. This is wrong too.
When asked, these people said they did not do these bad things.
The lawyer, Raymond Edozie, said they should be punished for what they did. But some other lawyers asked if they could be punished less because they felt sorry.
The judge, Justice Anyadike, decided that each person should go to jail for eight months. But they could pay a fine of N70,000 instead, except for Valerian and Boniface, who have to do community service for two months.
All the phones and computers taken from them will be sold, and the money will go to the government’s account.
They got caught on October 11, 2024, in Onitsha, Anambra State, for doing bad things on the internet.
Some of them pretended to be shipping agents with fake emails, and others tried to scam women from different countries.