Malaysian varsity student jailed 24 years over internet scam

An Ikeja High Court, presided over by Justice Lateefa Okunnu, has convicted and sentenced a Nigerian undergraduate of Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University, Malaysia, Hope Olusegun Aroke, a Nigerian, to 24 years imprisonment over an internet scam involving N25 million. Justice Okunnu found the convict guilty of a two-count charge of forgery and obtaining money under false pretence levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The 25 years old undergraduate was accused of obtaining money by false pretence from his victims, cloning of bank cheques, wire transfer and forgery. After reviewing the case, Justice Okunnu found him guilty of the charges and sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment on each of the two counts, which will run concurrently. Aroke’s fraudulent act became a public issue when an anonymous petitioner wrote EFCC, alleging that the convict, who hails from Kogi State, was involved in some online fraudulent acts, which compelled EFCC to commence investigation, leading to his arrest and prosecution. Investigations revealed that Aroke was involved in several romance scams that fetched him 4,000 Ringgit (Malaysian currency). He admitted sending the money to Nigeria through one Angela, who later helped him deposit its Naira equivalent, N25 million in a new generation bank. On his arrest, two exotic cars, valued at N23 million, were recovered from him.