The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned two internet fraudsters, Olubode Oluko-tun and Olamide Adekeye, on a 22-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of US$149,000 before Justice O. Akinteye of the Oyo State High Court, Ibadan.
The accused persons were alleged to have obtained the sum from two Americans - Janet Nelson and Louise Cecchni - in a romance scam. When the charges were read to them, they pleaded not guilty to them.
The prosecution counsel, Kayode Oni, urged the court to remand the accused persons in prison custody, while re-questing for a date for the commencement of trial.
But the defence counsel, Mr Stephen Olaniyi, told the court that he already filed a bail application on April 1 and served the prosecution on April 17. Oni countered that it was against the law to apply for bail when the accused had not been arraigned.
Olaniyi, therefore, pleaded that the accused be remanded in the State Security Service (SSS) custody.
Justice Akinteye adjourned the matter till May 15, 2012 and ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody.
The accused persons were arrested on June 14, 2011 at Borem Inn, Ibadan, by the SSS and handed over to the EFCC on June 28, 2011.
Adekeye, a 25-year old student of Biochemistry, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State, allegedly confessed to scamming one Janet Nelson, an American lady online in a dating gambit.
He claimed to have met her through yahoo messenger where he saw her pictures. He dated her using the false identity of a David Donovan, a successful American.
Adekeye allegedly fleeced her of $90,000, which she sent to him in various installments through Western Union money transfer and also through GoldExPay.
From the proceeds of the crime, he bought a Peugeot 407 saloon.
The second suspect, the 28-year-old Olukotun, a fresh graduate of University of Ilorin, posed as Scott Ferguson, a Caucasian to fleece Louise Cecchni of $53,000 in vari-ous installments.
He obtained the money under the guise of a short loan facility, with a promise to refund his internet lover.
Both signed a promissory note to that effect and she started wiring him the hard currency through a GoldExPay account he maintained with Liberty Reserve.
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