Man sentenced to prison for scamming American out of $20,000 through internet fraud

Ekwue Joshua Femi was found guilty and given a one-year prison sentence by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for scamming an American, Sheedy Morgan, out of $20,000.

After being charged by the EFCC’s Lagos Zonal Command, he was placed under arrest by Special Offences Court Judge O.O. Abike Fadipe of the court located in Ikeja, Lagos.

The defendant was charged with two counts of money laundering, gaining property by deception, and impersonation.

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According to one of the counts, “that sometime in May 2023 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable, you, Ekwue Joshua Femi, falsely represented yourself as Mary Lanning Werner on your Facebook account and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 380 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015, with intent to defraud one Sheedy Morgan, a citizen of the United States of America.”

When the allegations against him were read to him, he entered a “guilty” plea.

After the defendant entered a guilty plea, S.I. Sulaiman, the prosecution’s attorney, went over the case’s facts and sentenced the defendant to one year in jail with the possibility of a N1 million fine.

The judge ruled that the Federal Government of Nigeria will receive forfeiture of the convicted person’s Mercedes Benz and cell phones.

In addition, he mandated that Sheedy Morgan, the victim, receive back any digital assets that had been taken from her.