An Ikeja Special Offences Court, on Wednesday, sentenced a 25-year-old man, Babatunde Shittu, to one year in jail for engaging in and benefitting from $5,000 cryptocurrency fraud.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Shittu had claimed to be an investor in cryptocurrency and produced fraudulent documents in that regard in order to defraud members of the public.
Justice Olubunmi Abike-Fadipe convicted and sentenced him after he pleaded guilty to a charge of cryptocurrency fraud brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge said: “Upon the defendant’s guilty plea and admission of the facts, he is hereby convicted of the one-count charge.
“He is hereby sentenced to one-year imprisonment with an option to pay N500,000 fine and embark on 40 hours of community service.”
The judge also ordered the convict to forfeit to the federal government, his iPhone 12 Pro Max and a MacBook computer, which were recovered from him as proceeds of the crime.
She held that the convict was a first-time offender, who promised to be of good behaviour and make restitution, hence, the liberal sentence.
“…Really sorry”
NAN reports that Mr Shittu had, after pleading guilty, prayed the court for leniency.
“I am really sorry, I have realised my mistake, and I am ready to live a better life and become a better person,” he said.
His counsel, Biola Adeyemi, in her plea for mercy, said that Mr Shittu was genuinely remorseful.
EFCC prosecutor, Abdullahi Gambuwa, had however, urged the court to convict Mr Shittu and sentence him accordingly.
The counsel told the court that Mr Shittu admitted having benefitted from $5,000.
“He claimed to be an investor in cryptocurrency, thereby misinforming the public,” the prosecution counsel said.
According to EFCC, the offence contravenes Section 1 of the Advance Fee Fraud Act of 2006.
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Cryptocurrency has grown in popularity in Nigeria in the last three years. Nigeria’s volume of crypto transactions grew 9% year-over-year to $56.7 billion between July 2022 and June 2023.
With the growth has come a rise in crypto-related fraud. In May, the EFCC said it arrested a suspected fraudster who duped people of $382,000 from 13 countries in a Bitcoin fraud.
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