May 19, (THEWILL) – The Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured the conviction of the Proprietor of Yahoo Academy, James Mark, aka Markscofield176, for cybercrime.
Mark allegedly runs a Yahoo Academy where he trains youngsters in the craft of trickery and fraud in cyberspace.
He was convicted along with Japhet Peter, aka Chafrin Bryan, before Justice A. A Bello of the Kaduna State High Court.
The anti-graft agency, in a statement, said they were arrested at different locations within the Kaduna metropolis, for cybercrime offences.
One of the charges reads: “Mark (aka Markscofield176), sometime March 2023, in Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, committed an offence to wit; falsely presented yourself as Markscofield176 (a citizen of the United States of America), which pretence you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 142(1) of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017.”
The other reads: “Japhet Peter (aka Chafrin Bryan) on or about the 20th of April, 2023, at Zeecool Hotel, Banawa, Kaduna, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, falsely presented yourself as Chafrin Bryan, and in such, assumed character impersonated one Chafrin Bryan ( a US citizen ) via your Facebook account and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 142(1) of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017.”
While they pleaded not guilty to the charges, EFCC Prosecuting counsel, M.E Eimonye and M. Arumeni, urged the court to convict them accordingly.
They were, however, convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment with an option of N200,000 and N150,000 fine respectively.
The convicts are to forfeit their phones, including “a black Samsung with IMEI No. 3592731578398, one Infinix Note 10 with IMEI No. 399273157878466, a blue Samsung phone, an iPhone 13 Pro Max with IMEI 35637016335603, iPhone XR with IMEI No. 356422108520194 and one MacBook laptop with model No. A2338 serial No. FVFGJ15VQ05D to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
