AISHA ABUBAKAR
A Nigerian man based in FCT, Abuja, Innocent Anthony Joseph, has been convicted and consequently sentenced for swindling a Chinese lady some amount of money in Chinese currency under the false pretence of love advances, which turned out to be a scam.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that it was the judgment of the Presiding Judge, Justice Anne Akobi of the FCT High Court, Gwagwalada, who found Joseph guilty and sentenced him accordingly.
The convict, Joseph, landed in trouble after the operatives of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Abuja Zonal Command, tracked and arrested him for the scam.
He was charged before the Court on a one-count charge bordering on love scam under the Criminal Laws of the FCT.
According to the EFCC, the convict committed the offence of impersonation when you created a WeChat account with profile name, Chard Lee, a Chinese citizen living and working in Belgium and under the assumed character obtained the money before the victim later realized it was a scam.
The lady reported to the EFCC, the operatives moved into action and eventually arrested and detained him for interrogation over his alleged criminal conduct.
During interrogation, he confessed and was charged before the Court for the fraud.
He pleaded guilty having realized that he had no defence and pleaded for leniency.
The charge read, “That you, Innocent Anthony Joseph sometime in 2022, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, cheated by impersonation when you created a WeChat account with profile name, Chard Lee, a Chinese citizen living and working in Belgium and under the assumed character obtained the sum of Three Thousand Chinese Yuan (Y3000) from a lady, who is a Chinese citizen, under the pretense that you are in a romantic relationship with her, a fact you knew to be false”.
The charge stated that he committed the offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Act, Laws of the Federation (Abuja), 1990 and punishable under Section 324 of the same Law.
Having pleaded guilty, the Court found him guilty as charged and sentenced him to community service accordingly.