The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Zonal Command in Abuja has successfully convicted two male fraudsters, Canice Agabi and Nwozor Martins, on charges related to impersonation and fraud.

According to the EFCC, Agabi falsely portrayed himself as an American citizen named Randy Sylvester and created an Instagram account using this identity.

He deceived Anne Fuscelaro, a US citizen, under the guise of being involved in Bitcoin Investment and lured her into investing in his cryptocurrency company called Prime Cash Investment. As a result, Agabi fraudulently obtained $1,000 from Fuscelaro.

Agabi pleaded guilty to the charges, and as a consequence, Justice A.Y. Shafa of the FCT High Court, Gwagwalada, convicted and sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment or the option of a ₦200,000 fine.

Agabi was ordered to pay ₦623,000 in restitution to the Federation Account and his Samsung Note 10 mobile phone, used in the commission of the crime, was ordered to be burned on the court premises.

Similarly, Nwozor Martins was convicted for fraudulently posing as Camela Onyinye, a female Nigerian citizen and CEO of Binary Trade Investment.

Nwozor substituted Onyinye’s picture with his own on his Facebook and WhatsApp accounts to deceive and defraud individuals, including Bashir Bello, from whom he obtained ₦570,000.

Nwozor pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment or the option of a ₦200,000 fine.

He was also ordered to pay a restitution balance of ₦370,000 to the Federation Account, and his iPhone and Tecno phones were ordered to be burned on the court premises.