Court Jails Lagos Teenager for Gift Card Fraud

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Lagos-based 18-year-old Hassan Usman Olamilekan has been convicted and sentenced by Justice Dipeolu of the Federal High Court, sitting in Ikoyi, for offences bordering on money laundering.

Mr Olamilekan was fined last Friday N200,000 and ordered to remit the sum of N1 million to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

He was among the 21 suspected internet fraudsters arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at Applewood Estate, Orchid Road, Lekki, Lagos State, on October 26, 2026.

During his arraignment by the EFCC, he pleaded guilty to the charges levelled against him, including: “That you, Hassan Usman Olamilekan, sometime in 2026 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this court indirectly disguised the origin of the sum of $800 in gift cards, which sum forms part of the proceeds of your unlawful activity, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2)(a) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

Investigations revealed that Mr Olamilekan, who claimed to hail from the Republic of Benin but was born in Nigeria, was involved in lottery scams and operated several social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Zangi and iMessage.

He reportedly met his victim, one Gary Brewer, a United States citizen, through the Zangi application, where he impersonated a white American woman identified as Julie Leach.

The convict told the victim that he had won a lottery prize of $250,000,000 and needed money to activate the winnings before he could claim the prize. He subsequently persuaded the victim to send him gift cards through the Zangi application.

The defendant admitted selling the gift cards through the Cardsonic application, converting them to Naira and transferring the proceeds to his grandmother’s OPay account. He confessed to benefiting from a total of $800 from the fraudulent scheme.