Justice Amina Bello of the Kaduna State High Court has convicted and sentenced Musa Abdulmalik and Sunday Godwin for separate counts of cheating by impersonation. Securitynewsalert.com gathered that the convictions followed a successful prosecution by the Kaduna Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The court heard that both men utilised social media platforms to defraud victims by assuming false identities. Musa Abdulmalik, operating under the alias “Lynn Ben,” presented himself as a female adult entertainer on Telegram to defraud a victim of $80 USD. Similarly, Sunday Godwin used the handle “Chrismitchellprivateacc3” on TikTok to defraud several unsuspecting victims of $400 AUD.
Both defendants pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them. Following the pleas, prosecution counsel M.E. Eimonye moved for the court to convict and sentence the duo accordingly under the Penal Code Law of Kaduna State, 2017.
Justice Bello sentenced Musa Abdulmalik to five years imprisonment or a fine of N300,000. As part of the judgment, Abdulmalik forfeited a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and the sum of $80 USD to the Federal Government. Sunday Godwin was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment or a fine of N300,000, and was ordered to forfeit an iPhone 13 alongside the $400 AUD recovered as proceeds of his crime.
The court emphasised that the high-end mobile devices and the recovered funds were the direct tools and proceeds of their illegal activities.
