The Federal High Court in Lagos State has jailed an impersonator of Nigerian singer Flavour, whose real name is Chinedu Okoli.
Judge Dehinde Dipeolu on Tuesday sentenced Ikpaka Courage to two years in prison for fraudulently representing himself as Flavour to deceive an American citizen, Yvelte M. Thompson.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged Mr Courage with two counts of cybercrime and money laundering.
According to the commission, Mr. Courage fraudulently obtained $53,000 from Ms. Thompson under the pretext that he would perform on her birthday in Washington DC in July 2021.
Mr Courage, a graduate in philosophy, was arraigned on Tuesday by the Lagos Directorate of the EFCC on the two charges and was subsequently remanded in custody after pleading guilty to the offences on Tuesday.
The anti-corruption agency said this in a statement on its website on Wednesday.
The trial
In passing sentence, the judge found Mr Courage guilty of the offences and sentenced him to two years in prison with the option of a fine.
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The court also ruled that the money he received as proceeds of the crime should be confiscated from the victim of the fraud.
He also ordered that the convict be remanded in EFCC custody pending compliance with the order within 21 days.
Earlier, the prosecution counsel, SI Suleiman, presented a witness, Azibagiri Dan Ekpar, an EFCC agent, to review the facts of the case.
Mr Ekpar said the convict confessed to having obtained $53,000 from Ms Thompson on the pretext that he would perform on her birthday in Washington DC in July 2021.
“The money was transferred through a Bitcoin wallet he created to receive the proceeds of crime,” the witness said.
He said the convict confessed to having committed a dating scam and impersonating Chinedu Okoli, the Nigerian singer.
In his further review of the facts, the witness said: “He also admitted to having falsified the data page of the Nigerian international passport of Mr Chinedu Okoli, also known as Flavour N’abania, and also created a fictitious email address, which he used to communicate with the victim.”
He added that the convict had returned N7.9 million in restitution through a manager's cheque.
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The prosecution presented as evidence the defendant's out-of-court statement, a statement from his bank account, a printout of the chats between him and the victim, and a statement from the Binance Bitcoin wallet.
Courage's lawyer, Bayo Phillip, asked the court to “temper justice with mercy,” adding that his client was “a first-time offender and did not waste the court's time.”
With increasing technological advancement and digital innovation, internet fraud has become a worrying issue, leading to a significant increase in fraudsters arrested in Nigeria.