Three men including a member of the National Youth Service Corps and an undergraduate have been arraigned by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for internet scam following a tip-off.
The defendants identified as Solomon Uchendu, Ndubisi Agu and Uchendo Chikwadu were brought before Justice D. V. Agishir of the Federal High Court sitting in Enugu, Enugu State, for offences bordering on obtaining by false pretences and Advanced Fee Fraud.
One of the suspects, Uchendu was said to be a serving corps member in Akoko, Ondo State and was arraigned on seven counts charges.
He confessed that most of his victims who knew him as Lincoln were from the United States of America, Canada and Germany and were not aware that he resided in Nigeria.
According to him, among his victims was one Patricia from Canada who gave him $1,200; Larisa from Germany gave him $3,000; while Ethel from the US also gave him $3,000.
On the other hand, the second suspect, Agu, a final year student of a university of science and technology in Enugu, disclosed that he also had several e-mail accounts.
He said further that he made $13,000 between late 2013 and February, 2014 from some of his victims across the globe.
The third suspect, 22-year-old Chikwadu, had three fake drivers’ licences, which he obtained using three different names given as John Omoaroijake, Gary Harry and Chikwadu Uchendu at the licensing office at Jakpa Road in Warri, Delta State.
Chikwadu said he met one 32-year-old nurse, Grace Talves of Blackpool, United Kingdom on an online dating platform.
He operated with a name, Harry Phillp, 42, which he used to send love scam mails and pictures to Talves, a British divorcee and mother of one. He stated that he duped her of £500, an Ipad and a Mac Air laptop.
Part of the charges said, “That you, Solomon Uchendu, on or about May 3, 2014, in Enugu, Enugu State within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, was found in possession of a document containing a false information and thereby committed an offence, contrary to Section 6 and Section 8 sub-section( b ) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offence Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.”
“That you Uchendu Chinonso on or about May 3, 2014 in Enugu, Enugu State, was found in possession of a document containing a picture in which you presented yourself as a white man….”
The judge ordered that the suspects be remanded in prison pending on their trial which was adjourned until Tuesday, February 10, 2015.
