A Nigerian, Moses Upkonahusi has been convicted of $5,576 cryptocurrency fraud perpetrated in Abuja after obtaining a bitcoin value of 0.11088059 from Adam Murah, an Australian.
Moses was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, before Justice Mohammed Zubair of the FCT High Court in Jikwoyi.
Investors King gathered that Moses was arrested on May 28, 2022, following Murah’s petition after falling for a cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme.
According to EFCC, Moses posed as the Chief Executive Officer of Crypto Infinite Trade, a fake investment platform to defraud Adam Murah, an Australian citizen.
The financial watchdog noted that the offence violated Section 321 of the Penal Code Act, LFN, 2004 and is punishable under section 324 of the same Act.
After Moses pleaded guilty, the judge sentenced him to one-year imprisonment with an option of a N300,000 fine.
The court also directed that the recovered $5,576 be paid to the victim through the Australian High Commission in Nigeria.
Investors King understands that the rate of cryptocurrency scams has been on the rise in Nigeria. This calls for more caution among unsuspecting investors.
Late last year, a Kaduna State High Court convicted and sentenced one Emmanuel Simon to three months in prison for offences bordering on cryptocurrency scam.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission stated that Simon used Instagram fake accounts to send scam messages to unsuspecting persons to defraud them by telling them to invest in cryptocurrency trading with the promise that they will make profit in seven days.
Simon was however allowed to pay a fine of N100, 000.00 as an alternative to the three months jail term.
Meanwhile, an Israel-based blockchain analysis firm, Whitestream in its report has noted that bitcoin and crypto use has been booming in Nigeria, but the dark side is the rise of scams. The report added that scammers target new crypto users or investors who have no prior knowledge before.