Four Filipinos and seven Nigerians were found guilty on Friday of cyberterrorism and internet fraud offences by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC.
After the EFCC filed separate charges against the defendants, Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, gave the ruling.
Reyna Mae Eriba, Chynna Samonte, Zara Fabian, and Dominique Medina are the Filipinos who were found guilty.
The Nigerian convicts include Chidera Ezechukwu, Favour Oluchukwu, Egwenum Ifeanyi, David Okezie, Gbenga Shittu Solomon, Ibraheem Olamilekan, and Oghomienor Jotham.
Each defendant was charged on separate accusations of identity theft, cyberterrorism, and online fraud, according to court papers.
Chynna Samonte was charged with using computer systems to recruit young Nigerians for identity theft and impersonation schemes with the goal of causing financial instability in Nigeria’s social and economic institutions..
Section 2(3)(d) of the Terrorism (Prevention, Prohibition) Act, 2022 and Section 18 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 (as modified in 2024) were allegedly violated by her acts.
Chidera Ezechukwu, a Nigerian native, was charged with another crime, allegedly keeping N12,750,318.63 in a UBA account, money that was likely obtained through an online dating fraud.
Section 14(1)(b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004 (as modified) was used to prosecute him, and Section 14(2) of the same statute was used to penalise him.
To the charges, each defendant entered a guilty plea.
Anita Imo, S.I Suleiman, H.U. Kofarnaisa, and B.M. Isah, the prosecution’s attorneys, pleaded with the court to convict and punish the defendants appropriately and to order the seizure of all found property to the Federal Government.
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Eriba, Samonte, Fabian, and Medina were all given one-year prison terms or a N1,000,000.00 fine by Justice Bogoro.
Additionally, he instructed the Nigerian Immigration Service’s Comptroller General to make sure they were deported to the Philippines within seven days of serving their sentences.
Gbenga Shittu Solomon, one of the Nigerian prisoners, was sentenced to a year in jail or a fine of N700,000. Jotham, Olamilekan, Ezechukwu, David, Ifeanyi, and Oluchukwu—the other Nigerian defendants—were all given a year in prison or a N500,000.00 fine.
Justice Bogoro also ordered that all items recovered from the convicts, including vehicles, communication gadgets, and funds, be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria
