Court convicts Internet fraudster who defrauded American by impersonating Flavour

The Federal High Court in Lagos State has jailed an impersonator of Nigerian singer Flavour, whose real name is Chinedu Okoli.

The judge, Dehinde Dipeolu, sentenced on Tuesday Ikpaka Courage to two years imprisonment for fraudulently presenting himself as Flavour to dupe a United States citizen, Yvelte M. Thompson.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged Mr Courage with two counts of cybercrime and money laundering.

According to the commission, Mr Courage fraudulently obtained $53,000 from Mrs Thompson under the pretence that he would perform on her birthday in Washington DC in July 2021.

Mr Courage, a philosophy graduate, was arraigned on Tuesday by the Lagos Directorate of the EFCC on the two counts and was subsequently jailed after pleading guilty to the crimes on Tuesday.

The anti-corruption agency disclosed this in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

The judgement

Delivering judgement, the judge held that Mr Courage was guilty of the offences and sentenced him to two years in jail with an option of fine.

The court also ruled that the money he received as the proceeds of the crime should be forfeited to the fraud victim.

It also ordered that the convict be remanded in EFCC custody pending the fulfilment of the order within 21 days.

Earlier, the prosecution lawyer, S.I Suleiman, presented a witness, Azibagiri Dan Ekpar, an operative of the EFCC, to review the facts of the case.

Mr Ekpar said the convict confessed to obtaining $53,000 from Mrs Thompson under the pretence that he would perform on her birthday in Washington DC in July 2021.

“The money was transferred through a Bitcoin wallet he created in order to receive the proceeds of crime,” the witness said.

He said the convict confessed to a dating scam and impersonating Chinedu Okoli, the Nigerian singer.

In his further review of facts, the witness said, “He also admitted to have forged the Nigerian international passport data page of Mr Chinedu Okoli, a.k.a. Flavour N’abania, and also created a fictitious email address, which he used to communicate with the victim.”

He added that the convict had returned N7.9 million in restitution by raising a managers’ cheque.

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The prosecution tendered in evidence the defendant’s extra-judicial statement, statement of bank account, printout of chats between him and the victim, and Bitcoin wallet statement from Binance.

Bayo Phillip, the lawyer to Mr Courage, pleaded that the court should “temper justice with mercy”, adding that his client was a “first-time offender and he did not waste the time of the court”.

With the rise of technological advancement and digital innovation, internet fraud has become a disturbing issue, leading to a significant increase in fraudsters arrested in Nigeria.