Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
A court in Kaduna State has convicted one Mr Adamu Aliyu for defrauding a resident of the state of N40,000 about two months ago.
The fraudster was said to have fraudulently transferred the said amount to himself from the account of an unsuspecting Automated Teller Machine (ATM) user, under the false pretence of aiding the victim to effect a transfer.
The convict was prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Kaduna zonal office on a one-count charge of theft.
The EFCC said it received a petition from one Isiaku Abdullahi, who alleged that he went to an ATM point in Kakuri, Kaduna State on July 30, 2020, to make a transfer to his brother, where he met the convict who offered to assist him in making the transfer using his ATM card.
According to Mr Abdullahi, he gave the convict his ATM card, revealed his password to him and gave him his brother’s account number to help him make the transfer to him.
Not long, he received a debit alert showing that the convict had transferred N40,000 to himself, prompting him to make his way into the banking hall to lay a complaint, where he incidentally met the convict again and raised the alarm that caused bank officials to cause his arrest and subsequent prosecution by the EFCC.
Mr Aliyu, after the charge was read to him, pleaded guilty, prompting the prosecution counsel, Mr Jamilu Musa, to ask Justice Mohammed Tukur Muazu Aliyu of the Kaduna State High Court to convict and sentence him accordingly.
The judge, while ruling on the matter on Monday, September 14, 2020, sentenced Mr Aliyu to six months imprisonment for fraudulently transferring another person’s money to himself under the false pretence.
According to the court, the six months prison sentence is without an option of fine.
