Internet Fraud: Lagos Court Gives Yahoo Boy Soft Landing, Gets N3m Fine

Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court, Ikeja, Lagos, today, convicted and sentenced an internet fraudster, popularly called Yahoo Boy, Sodiq Adewale, to a year Imprisonment, for being in possession of forged  documents, which he used to defraud his victims to the tune of $87,300 USD.

The convict was re-arraigned before the court on one count amended charge of the offence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Arraigning the convict, the prosecutor, Mrs. Fadekemi Giwa, told the court that the convict, who was previously arraigned before the court had approached the commission for a plea bargain agreement.

She told the court that following the Convict’s decision, the charge against him was amended and a plea bargain agreement was signed by the Convict, his counsel and herself, the prosecutor.

Following prosecutor’s submission, Justice Dada ordered that the amended charge be read to the convict for his plea to be taken. And upon the reading of the charge, the Convict pleaded guilty.

The charge against the Convict reads: “Sodiq Adewale, on or about the 25th day of January, 2021, Lagos, within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable court, had in you possession a document titled Official Check No. 029356348 valued $87,300 containing false pretences which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State”. 

 “Following his guilty plea, his counsel, Ademola Adefolaju, pleaded with the court to be lenient in sentencing his client, put into consideration that he is a first time offender and he did not waste precious time of the court, adding that his client has promised not to engage in any fraudulent act in the future”..

He also urged the court to give his client option of fine in lieu of custodian sentence.

Following Adefolaju’s submission, Justice Dada sentenced the Convict to a three-year imprisonment. The judge however gave an option of N3 million in lieu of the jail-term.