Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, convicted and sentenced one Mubarak Suleiman Olasukanmi to three years imprisonment for cybercrime.
He was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on impersonation and cybercrime by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
His travail began following a petition received by the Commission from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, in 2023, alleging that he engaged in Business Email Compromise, BEC, and online romance scam.
Investigation by the FBI in February 2021 had revealed an attempt at BEC on the City of Aliso Viejo, California, where an employee received fraudulent emails purporting to be from Tovey/Shultz Construction Inc., a construction company.
The fraudulent email requested that Tovey/Shultz Construction Incorporation’s bank accounts be changed to Anoka Wellness’ bank account at Bank of California.
As a result of the email intersection, City of Aliso Viejo electronically wired $521,518.47 to Anoka Wellness’s bank account as a payment intended for Tovey/Shultz Construction, which was later recovered through the quick action of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, OCSD.
It was further revealed that to achieve this deception, several email addresses were used to obtain the fake domain name used to impersonate Tovey/Shultz and its associate’s email address.
About twenty-six other email addresses were used to create several apple accounts that were tied to one another through common names, addresses and the phone number belonging to Olasukanmi.
The count read “That you. MUBARAK SULAIMAN OLASUKANMI (Male), adult sometime in February, 2021 In Logas State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently impersonated one Jackie Love by holding yourself out as such on your Facebook Application with intent to gain advantage for yourself and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(2Y(5) of the Cybercrimes (Pronibition, Prevention. etc) Act, 2015.”
He pleaded “guilty” to the charges preferred against him.
Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, Hannatu U. KofarNaisa, called on Owolabi Oyarekhua, an investigator with the EFCC, to review the facts.
Oyarekhua told the court that the Commission received a petition from the FBI regarding the activities of the defendant.
He added that “Upon his arrest, one iPhone 14 was recovered from the him.
“He volunteered his statement under caution, where he confessed that he was into internet fraud and that he specialized in romance scam.
“He was also involved in dating scam, where he opened profiles on Facebook, using foreign names and pictures. He wrote in his statement that he sent friend requests to foreigners and made friends with those who accepted his requests.
“He stated that if anyone fell in love with him, he would then request money from the unsuspecting victim. He explained that he presented himself as a female from Texas, USA, using the name Jackie love. He owns and uses the email addresses: jackmorris2573@gmail.com and mindset996@ gmail.com to chat with his victims on hangout.”
The prosecution counsel, thereafter, sought to tender the defendant’s extrajudicial statement, iPhone 14 and documents print out from his iPhone. They were all admitted and marked as exhibits.
Consequently, Justice Faji convicted and sentenced Olasukanmi to one year imprisonment on count 1, without an option of fine and two years imprisonment on count 2, without an option of fine.
The sentences are to run concurrently, commencing from the date of his sentencing.
