Internet Fraudster Bags Four Months Jail Term over $5,700 Gift Card Fraud

By Kingsley Nwezeh

Justice Ladiran Akintola of the Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan yesterday convicted and sentenced one Damilare Tolu Ogunleke to four months in prison for internet fraud.

The convict was prosecuted by the Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) on amended three-count charge for obtaining gift cards worth $5,700 by fraud, contrary to Section 419 of the Criminal Code Law Cap 38, Laws of Oyo 2000, a statement by the anti-graft agency said.

One of the charges read: “That you Damilare Tolu Ogunleke (‘m’) sometime in the year 2019, at Ogbomosho, Oyo State, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, obtained gift cards worth $5,000 from one Porter Pattern by falsely representing to him that you are a female and other pretences, which you knew to be false.”

He pleaded guilty to all the charges upon which prosecution counsel, Lanre Abdulrasheed, prayed the court to convict and sentence him accordingly, while his counsel, Tunde Olupona, informed the court that his client had made full restitution to his victim and urged the court to temper justice with mercy.

Apart from the prison term, Ogunleke was ordered to restitute his victim the sum of $1, 042 and would also forfeit his Lexus IS350, a phone and an iPad to the federal government.

The convict was arraigned on September 28, 2020.