Justice S. M. Shuaibu of the Federal High Court, Calabar, Cross River State on Thursday, December 12, 2019, handed prison terms to five cyber criminals, better known as “Yahoo Boys,” after they pleaded guilty to one-count charge, preferred against them separately by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Uyo Zonal Office.
The convicts are: Omengala Emmanuel (a.k.a.Frank Hoffman), Obonga Valentine ( a.k.a Patrick Seaman), Segun Dele Jude (alias Hal Burlington), Omengala Paul (alias Christopher Mason) and Promise Nkanga.
Omengala Emmanuel ( a.k.a. Frank Hoffman) got six months imprisonment with N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) option of fine for obtaining property by false pretence using a fictitious Instagram account(FrankHO77) and presenting himself as Frank Hoffman, a United State of America citizen.
His brother, Omengala Paul (a.k.a. Christopher Mason) got one year with N200,000.00 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira) option of a fine for falsely portraying himself as a white male to one Katherine McKinnon on Instagram and obtained the sum of $1,824.40c (One Thousand, Eight Hundred and Twenty-four Dollars, Forty Cents) which the court ordered that he restituted to his victim.
Obonga Valentine (a.k.a. Patrick Seaman) was sentenced to six months imprisonment with N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) option of fine for fraudulent impersonation to one Jessica Williams on Facebook with fictitious name and e-mail ( Patrick Seaman/Patrickseaman@ gmail.com).
Promise Nkanga was slammed with six months imprisonment with N150,000.00 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira) option of fine for impersonation, by presenting himself as Hal Burlington from Beijing to unsuspecting persons and fleecing them of their hard earned money.
While Segun Dele Jude ( alias Hal Burlington) was sentenced to six months imprisonment with N100,000.00 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) option of fine for impersonation.
Aside the prison terms, the convicts forfeited the instruements of their crimes to the federal government, which include: three iPhone X, Apple wrist watch, Apple Mac Book laptop, iPhone X Max, Infinix Hot 5 phone, iPhone 7 plus, HP laptop, iPhone 7, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7 Plus, MacBook Pro laptop and Toyota Camry Salon car with registration number APP- 514-DF.
Wilson Uwujaren
Head, Media & Publicity
13 December, 2019
