By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
The Enugu Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday, November 28, 2024 arraigned the duo of Ajim Kerison Onubuogu and Ajim Tochukwu Christian, biological brothers, for allegedly defrauding their victim, Chebet Chumba, an American the sums of Forty-Three Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty United States Dollars ($43, 850) and Eighteen Million, Six Hundred and Seventy-Five Thousand, One Hundred and Thirty-three Naira, Seventy-five Kobo (N18, 675, 133. 75), respectively.
The defendants were arraigned before Justice Mohammed Garba Umar of the Federal High Court sitting in Independence Layout, Enugu State on a four-count charge bordering on criminal personation, obtaining by false pretence, money laundering and possession of proceeds of crime.
Count two of the charge reads; “That you, Ajim Kerison Onubuogu, sometime between April and July, 2023 in Enugu, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, fraudulently impersonated one Chris M. Akaa, a resident of Atlanta, GA. In the United States of America by means of computer system through a fake Facebook Account, which you gained the sum of Forty-three Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty Dollar ($43, 850) from one Chebet Chumba by intentionally sending to her, love messages that you knew to be false, in order to gain advantage of yourself and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22 (3) (a) (b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (4) of the same Act”.
Count Four of the charge reads; “That you, Ajim Tochukwu Christian, sometime between 19th March, 2023 and 9th May, 2024 in Enugu, within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court of Nigeria did commit a felony to wit: using and taking possession of an aggregate sum of Eighteen million, Six Hundred and Seventy-five Thousand, One Hundred and Thirty-three Naira, Seventy-five Kobo (N18, 675, 133. 75), belonging to one Chebet Chumba, through your Opay Digital Service Ltd account number 8067016437, knowing same to be fund that forms part of proceeds of an unlawful act and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2022 as amended and punishable under Section 18 (3) of the same Act”.
The siblings pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them. In view of their pleas, counsel to the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, ACE II Michael Ikechukwu Ani prayed the court for a trial date and for the defendant to be remanded at the Enugu State Correctional Facility.Justice Umar thereafter adjourned the matter to January 21, 2025 for hearing of bail application, while the defendants were remanded at the Enugu State Correctional facility.
The defendants were arrested when a petitioner, an American, narrated how she was allegedly scammed of the said sum by the defendants.
Investigations into the matter revealed that the defendants specialized in love scam, using various social media accounts that are fake. Fraudulent documents were also recovered from them.
