Justice Darius Khobo of Kaduna State High Court has convicted and sentenced one Okhipo David to four months imprisonment on one count charge bordering on Internet fraud.
The charge reads, “that you David Okhipo ‘M’ sometime in November 2021 in Kaduna State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court voluntarily assisted one Friday to conceal the sum of N 150,000 ( One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira ) only by receiving same through your account No. 0047529646 domiciled at Guaranty Trust Bank Plc which formed part of the sum of N 750,000 ( Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Naira )only earlier stolen by fraudulent transfer from the account of Safiyyanu Ibrahim with No. 0021509835 domiciled at Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and you thereby committed an offence punishable under section 319 of the Penal Code Law of Kzduna State 1991”.
He pleaded guilty to the charge. Upon his plea, the prosecution counsel, E.K Garba urged the court to convict and sentence him according.
But the defence counsel, S.I Unoakhe prayed the court to temper justice with mercy as the defendant is a first time offender who has become remorseful.
Justice Khobo convicted and sentenced him to four months in prison.
David who was arrested on Monday, 15 March, 2021, had sometime in November 2012, presented himself as a staff of a new generation bank, requested for the account details of a complainant in order to update some information on the account. The complainant suspected fraud and refused to oblige his request.
But he let down his guard when another call came from the same telephone number in the same month, requesting for his token details. He volunteered the information without sensing danger.
However, moments after giving out the token details, the victim began receiving debit alerts on his Dollar account to the tune of $4801.42. He later reported the incident to his bank but till date, no refund was made; hence the decision to seek the intervention of the EFCC.
Investigation revealed that the suspect used four other accounts for the illegal withdrawals and transfer from the complainant’s account. The accused also conspired with his room-mate to use his account to receive money from the victim’s account.