Man sentenced to 10 Years Imprisonment For Contract Scam

Find the EFCC press statement below...

The Economic and Fiunacial Crimes Commission, EFCC, recorded its first conviction for 2015 on Wednesday January 28, 2015 as Justice A. Ongetenu of the Federal High Court Abakaliki, Ebonyi State convicted and sentenced one Monday Agha to 10 years imprisonment for offences bordering on conspiracy, impersonation and obtaining money by false pretence.

Agha, who was arraigned on July 20, 2013, allegedly fraudulently opened several accounts in different banks using fictitious names with which he conspired with one Moses to defraud some unsuspecting victims. 

After diligent prosecution, Justice Ongetenu convicted the accused on six of the eight count charge preferred against him and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment.

The convict was also ordered to pay N2,730,000 (two million, seven hundred and thirty thousand naira) in restitution to the complainant

One of the charges reads: “that you Agha Monday (a.k.a Nwachukwu Peter Elom), Elder Emmanuel Elom, (at large) Obinna Chijioke (at large) Agatha Chigbata Munachi (at large) Anthonia C. Nwigwe (at large) Hon. P. A. Odonio (at large) sometime between December 2010 and April 2011 in Ebonyi State, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abakaliki with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of five hundred and fifteen thousand naira (N515,000.00) from Chinyere Bright through Oceanic Bank (now Eco Bank) account number 0190001034503 by false pretence that the said Chinyere Bright has been awarded a contract for the printing and supply of 25,000 pieces of polo shirts by the government of Ebonyi State and the said money is for mobilisation and processing of the said contract, which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 1(1)(a) of Advance Fee Fraud and other fraud Related Offences Act,2006 and punishable under Section 1(3)of the same Act”.

The convict had previously been convicted by a Federal High Court, Enugu and sentenced to 7 years in prison for defrauding a University don of N805,000.

Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
29th January, 2015

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Photo: 4 Nigerians jailed 14 years total formatch.com dating scam

Four Nigerian men, Monty Emu, Adewunmi Nusi, Emmanuel Oko, and
Chukwuka Ugwu (pictured above) have been jailed a total of 14 years
for duping single women out of about $350,000.

According to the UK Mirror, the four men duped these women after they
responded to a false profile of an "attractive middle-aged man" on
popular dating site, Match.com. Don't these women learn?

"They then fell for the conman's story that he was due to receive a
£100 million inheritance from his father but that it was tied up by
red tape in India.

Once the relationship had developed with the fake man, normally
called James Richards, the conspirators started requesting cash.

At first the women were asked for a £700 legal fee by a fake
solicitor but then the sums requested rose to up to £100,000,
Winchester Crown Court heard.

The trial was told that vulnerable women were conned out of
£220,000, with one victim, Suzanne Hardman, handing over
£174,000.

Some realised it was a scam and did not hand over any cash.

Following a three-week trial, Monty Emu, 28, of Frencham Road,
Southsea, Hampshire, and Adewunmi Nusi, 37, of Bomford Close,
Hermitage, Berkshire, were convicted of money laundering.

At the start of the trial, Emmanuel Oko, 30, of Waverley Grove,
Southsea, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and money
laundering and Chukwuka Ugwu, 29, of Somers Road, Southsea,
admitted money laundering.

Oko, who was said by the judge to be at the centre of the
conspiracy, was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for the
fraud and four years to run concurrently for the money laundering
offence.

Emu, who laundered about £55,000 during nine months, was
jailed for three and a half years, Ugwu was jailed for 46 weeks and
Nusi was imprisoned for 18 months.
Sentencing the four men, Judge Susan Evans QC said: "This was
a highly sophisticated conspiracy to defraud, it preyed on the
trusting, the lonely and the emotionally vulnerable.

The amount of planning was, in my view, substantial and would have required a
highly organised group of individuals. Some of those females that
were targeted were utterly taken in by this cruel scam and the
sophistication of the crime means it's unsurprising that some of
them were taken in.

The hurt and distress you caused them was
enormous. It's not even about the loss of the money being at the
forefront of this, it's about the emotional hurt you caused them."
In a victim impact statement, Ms Hardman, from Basingstoke,
said that the fraud had led to her suffering sleepless nights and
not eating because of the stress and that she had lost her self-
respect.

She said: "From the day I reported the incident to the police, I felt
very vulnerable and sick to my stomach.

As I look back, I felt
groomed and that is how I became a victim of this, I wouldn't
want anyone else to be a victim of this type of crime. I do feel a
duty to warn others, women specifically, of this type of theft over
dating websites and the internet. The money itself was to act as a
pension and to support my family as I got old, one could say I
have lost everything that I had from a 28-year marriage."

Sylvia Tai Sen Choy, who lost £11,300 to the scam, said that she
had been put on anti-depressants since falling victim and at one
point I was too frightened to answer the phone.

"All I wanted to do was meet someone so I wasn't on my own, it
sickens me that there are people out there who want to prey on
people's emotions."

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