A Federal High Court sitting in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State has ordered the remand of 14 Philippine nationals for their alleged involvement in cryptocurrency fraud.
This was contained in a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday.
The suspects, according to the EFCC, were part of the 792-member syndicate of alleged cryptocurrency investment and romance fraud suspects, arrested on December 10, 2024, in Lagos State.
The statement identified the suspects as Marj Maranga, Zara Fabian, Jonalyn Mendoza, Dominique Medina, Rachelle Cabalona, Krystel Aquilesca, and Caselyn Pionela.
Others are Raizza Camara, Danica Silad, Reyna Mae Eriba, Chynna Samonte, Mary Grace Dela Cruz, Sevien Cire Renovilla, and Rose-Ann Gonzales.
They were arraigned on different charges bordering on cybercrimes, cyberterrorism, impersonation, possession of documents containing false pretence, and identity theft alongside a private company.
The statement read in part, “That you, Mary Grace Dela Cruz and Genting International Co. Ltd, sometime in December 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, wilfully caused to be accessed computer systems organised to seriously destabilise and destroy the fundamental economic and social structure of Nigeria when you procured/employed Nigerian youths for identity theft and to hold themselves out as persons of foreign nationality, with the intent to gain a financial advantage for yourselves and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 18 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (As amended 2024) and Section 2(3)(d) of the Terrorism (Prevention, Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
“That you, Krystel Aquilesca, sometime in December 2024 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with the intent to gain a financial advantage for your employer fraudulently impersonated one ‘TETEEL’ by holding yourself out as such, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015.”
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges which prompted the prosecuting counsel to pray the court for a trial date.
The trial judge, Justice Musa Kakaki, granted the prayers of the prosecutor and ordered the remand of the defendant while adjourning the trial to March 13.
“They all pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, following which prosecution counsel, M.K Bashir, N.K. Ukoha and Bilkisu Buhari, prayed to the court for trial dates and for the defendants to be remanded in a correctional centre.”
‘Justice Kakaki adjourned the matter until March 13, 2025, for trial and ordered that the defendants be remanded in a correctional centre,” the statement concluded.
PUNCH Metro reported on December 16 that the EFCC during its largest single-day crackdown on cryptocurrency and romance scam syndicates, apprehended 792 suspects in Lagos.
The suspects comprised 158 foreigners and 634 others who were arrested in a single raid on a building located in the Victoria Island area of the state.