FCT court convicts man for defrauding Chinese lady in love scam
A Nigerian man based in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, named Innocent Anthony Joseph, has been convicted and sentenced for swindling a Chinese woman out of some money in Chinese currency by pretending to be romantically interested in her, which turned out to be a scam.
According to P.M.EXPRESS, the presiding judge, Justice Anne Akobi of the FCT High Court in Gwagwalada, found Joseph guilty and sentenced him accordingly.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Abuja Zonal Command arrested Joseph for the scam. He was charged with one count of love scam under the Criminal Laws of the FCT.
The EFCC stated that the convict committed the offense of impersonation by creating a WeChat account with the profile name “Chard Lee,” a Chinese citizen living and working in Belgium. He assumed this identity and obtained money from the victim before she realized it was a scam.
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The victim reported the incident to the EFCC, and the operatives arrested and detained Joseph for interrogation over his alleged criminal conduct. During interrogation, he confessed and was charged before the court for the fraud.
Joseph pleaded guilty, having realized that he had no defense, and requested leniency.
The charge read: “That you, Innocent Anthony Joseph, sometime in 2022, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, cheated by impersonation when you created a WeChat account with the profile name ‘Chard Lee,’ a Chinese citizen living and working in Belgium, and under the assumed character obtained the sum of Three Thousand Chinese Yuan (Y3000) from a lady, who is a Chinese citizen, under the pretense that you are in a romantic relationship with her, a fact you knew to be false.”
The charge stated that he committed the offense contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Act, Laws of the Federation (Abuja), 1990, and punishable under Section 324 of the same law.
Having pleaded guilty, the court found him guilty as charged and sentenced him to community service.
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