The Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday, April 1, 2019, arraigned one Ismail Yunus before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court 2, Ibadan, Oyo State. He was arraigned on an Eight-count charge bordering on Advance Free Fraud for obtaining money by false pretense and sending pornographic images, among others while posing as a nude woman and using such as a bait to defraud unsuspecting victims.
According to the statement released by EFCC, Ismail Yunus allegedly defrauded two American citizens, Steve Harvey and David Beeck, at different times, claiming to be the ‘woman’ in the pornographic images to defraud his victims of their money.
One of the counts reads:
“That you Ismail Yunus sometime in 2018, at Oyo town, Oyo state, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of $70 USD (Seventy United State of America Dollars), only from Steve Harvey, a United State of American Citizen when you falsely represented that you a woman (knox Ruby from Dayton Ohio, United State of America), which representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offense contrary to section 1(1)(a) and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offenses Act 2006”.
The accused pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the offenses when read to him.
Due to his ‘not guilty’ plea, the prosecution counsel, Shamsudden Bahir, prayed the court for a trial date and an order to remand the accused person in prison custody pending the determination of his case.
The defense counsel, Okunyemi Tajudeen, made an oral bail application on behalf of his client, but the judge refused to grant his request.
The matter was adjourned to May 14, 2019 for trail, while the defendant was to be remanded in the Agodi prison custody.