Man jailed for social media love scam

A man, Usman Muhammed, has been convicted and sentenced for defrauding unsuspecting men with explicit pictures on social media.

Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of the Kwara State High Court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced the 29-year-old to prison.

The judge ordered him to pay a fine of N50,000 within 24 hours, or be committed to six months imprisonment.

Mr Muhammed was prosecuted by the Ilorin zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a count charge of impersonation.

According to the charge sheet, “he attempted to commit an offence of cheating by impersonation by pretending and representing yourself to be a woman called Omolara Adepeju and Guns Omolara Valle, to unsuspected men on social media.

“As contained in both the Facebook and WhatsApp conversations on his phone, Mr Muhammed’s offence is punishable under Section 95 of the Penal Code Laws of Northern Nigeria.”

He, however, pleaded guilty to the charge, upon which Adenike Ayoku, an operative of the EFCC, reviewed the facts of the case.

Mrs Ayoku stated that the convict, who was arrested in his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, is an internet fraudster, who pretended to be female and used explicit photographs to fraudulently obtain money from unsuspecting internet users as evidenced in his Facebook and WhatsApp accounts.

He forfeited his two phones which were the tools of his crime to the federal government.