Fashion designer jailed for impersonating and defrauding EFCC officer

Justice Abimbola Awogboro, of a Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, has sentenced a 27-year-old fashion designer, Haruna Musa Tolani, to 12 months imprisonment for impersonating and defrauding Callitus Egwuonwu, an investigative officer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ilorin Zonal Directorate.

A statement released on the official Facebook page of the EFCC revealed that Tolani, an indigene of Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State, has been initially arraigned on a two-count charge involving impersonation and cybercrime.

Tolani, who had initially pleaded not guilty later changed his plea to guilty after strong evidence was presented by the EFCC counsel, Sedan Ola.

Count one of the charge against him reads: “That you Haruna Musa Tolani in August,2024 at Ilorin within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud, misrepresented yourself via electronic message sent through unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) to Access Bank Plc. With respect to account number 0022643389, property of Mr Callistus Egwuonwu, with which you purchased N20000.00( Twenty Thousand naira) worth of MTN data which resulted into loss to the owner of the account and you thereby commit an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 14(2) of the cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, 2015”.

Count two reads: “That you Haruna Musa Tolani sometime in August,2024 at Ilorin within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court fraudulently impersonated one Callistus Egwuonwu via electronic message sent through unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) to Access Bank Plc with respect to account number 0022643389, property of Callistus Egwuonwu with intention to purchase MTN data worth Twenty Thousand Naira (20,000.00) which you did purchase and thereby committed offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(ii) of the cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention) Act,2015 and punishable under Section 22(2)(b)(iv) of the same Act”.

Moreover, Justice Awogboro in his judgement sentenced Tolani to 12-month imprisonment with an option of 200 thousand naira fine. The court also ordered the forfeiture of a First Bank manager’s cheque of 200 thousand naira in favour of the victim and directed the convict to return the sum of 20 thousand naira he fraudulently obtained.

“In his judgment, Justice Awogboro imposed a 12-month custodial sentence on Tolani with an option of a fine of N200,00( Two Hundred Thousand Naira). The court also ordered the forfeiture of a First Bank manager’s cheque of N200,000 in favour of the victim and directed the convict to restitute the sum of N20,000, the amount he fraudulently obtained.” The statement reads.