A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt on Wednesday sentenced a romance scammer to one year in prison for impersonation and possession of fraudulent documents.
The convict, Silvar Uzoeto, was prosecuted by the Port Harcourt zonal command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The anti-graft agency said Mr Uzoeto, also known as “William Parker”, was into “dating scam” and created 32 fake email accounts, which he uses in his “ignoble trade.”
The convict was arrested in June during a sting operation at Golf Estate in Port Harcourt, EFCC said in a statement posted on Twitter on Friday.
According to the commission, Mr Uzoeto, a Nigerian, disguised himself as an American, William Parker, and used the email address williamparker940@gmail.com to send a photograph (of William Parker) to an American woman, Jenni Reed, with the intent to gain advantage for himself.
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The EFCC said the offence is contrary to Section 22 (2) (b) (i) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention) Act, 2015 and punishable under the same Section of the Act.
Mr Uzoeto, according to the anti-graft agency, pleaded “guilty” after the charge was read to him, prompting the prosecution counsel, Ben Ubi, to ask the court to sentence him accordingly.
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The defendant’s counsel, M.M. Suleiman, according to the statement, did not oppose the prosecution’s prayer but asked the court for leniency.
The judge, P.I. Ajoku, convicted the defendant and sentenced him to one year in the Correctional Center with an option of a N1 million fine. The fine is to be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Government.
Justice Ajoku further ordered that the iPhone 13 Pro Max mobile phone, Redmi 11 and a Dell Laptop recovered from the convict be forfeited to the federal government.
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