21 year-old jailed in Kwara for impersonating Facebook CEO

The Kwara state high court has sentenced Jatto Sheriff Umar, a 21-year-old man who impersonated Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook.

Jatto was arraigned by the Ilorin zonal command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside five other persons over similar offences.

He was said to have disguised himself as Zuckerberg to defraud unsuspecting victims via online relationships.

In a statement on Thursday, Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesperson, said Jatto was convicted and sentenced to prison on Wednesday for offences bordering on personation and cybercrime.

Uwujaren disclosed that the EFCC also secured the conviction of Oguntoyinbo Oluwatobi Damilola, a fake US military officer; Taiwo Akinyemi Kayode from Ekiti West LGA of Ekiti state; Adebayo Adeola Mark from Osi in Ekiti LGA of Kwara state.

Also convicted are Adedoyin Olayinka from Ilesha West LGA of Osun and Yusuf Alameen Abiodun from the Igbo-Owu area of Kwara.

The quartet of Jatto, Damilola, Taiwo and Mark were prosecuted before Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara state high court in Ilorin while Adenike Akinpelu of the same court heard the case of Olayinka and Abiodun.

The EFCC spokesperson said the defendants pleaded guilty to their separate charges.

Innocent Mbachie represented the EFCC in the cases before Abdulgafar, a judge, while R. A Alao represented the commission in the cases before Akinpelu, a judge.

Abdulgafar sentenced Jatto (Zuckerberg’s impostor) to six months imprisonment each on counts one and two, to run concurrently at Mandala Correctional Centre.

The sentences are however suspended, but the convict would be reporting to an official of the correctional centre.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of his iPhone 12 pro, laptop and manager’s cheque, which he raised as restitution to his victims.

The judge gave Damilola a suspended sentence of six months imprisonment on counts one and two, to run concurrently while ordering the forfeiture of the phone used to perpetrate the crime to the federal government.

Abdulgafar also sentenced Taiwo to a suspended term of six months imprisonment.

The court ordered that the convict’s black Toyota Corolla Car with registration number LRN237RA, Dell Laptop, and one iPhone 11 pro be forfeited to the federal government.

A similar sentence was imposed on Mark as the court jailed him for six months, which shall be suspended while ordering the forfeiture of the phone used in committing the crime.

On the other hand, Akinpelu sentenced Olayinka to six months imprisonment each on counts one and two, to run concurrently with the option of a fine of N200,000 on each count.

In the same vein, the judge sentenced Abiodun to six months imprisonment with an option of a fine of N200,000.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of a draft of N135,000 raised as restitution to the victim of the crime as well as iPhone XR used as an instrumentality of the crime.