Fake FBI agent receives a three-year sentence

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Justice Darius Khobo presided over a Kaduna High Court that found Solomon Eke guilty of impersonation and sentenced him to three years in prison.

The anti-graft organization announced on Monday that Eke, who had used the Facebook pseudonym Kelvin James to run his business, had been found guilty of impersonating John Smith, an agent with the American Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Eke and 24 other alleged online fraudsters were apprehended at Kurudu Phase 5, Abuja, according to an EFCC statement based on an intelligence report.

The statement partly read, “The defendant was arrested by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at Kurudu Phase 5, Abuja, alongside 24 others following intelligence on his alleged internet fraud-related activities.

“Investigation revealed that he operated a Facebook account with the name Kelvin James. Further investigation showed he impersonated an agent of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation by the name, John Smith.”

According to EFCC, the one count read, “That you, Solomon Eke (a.k.a Kelvin James) and others now at large, sometimes in July 2022 at Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this court, committed an offence to wit; falsely presented yourself as Kelvin James; a white man and a Trading Manager to several unsuspecting victims via ‘Facebook’ (a social media application) in a bid to lure them into love scam, which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 142(1) of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017.”

The offender entered a guilty plea to the charge, the anti-graft agency said, and was consequently given a sentence of three years in prison, with the possibility of an additional N150, 000 fine, and was had to return his iPhone 14 Pro Max phone to the Federal Government.