Court jails fake spiritualist for internet fraud in Ilorin

By Mosunmola Ayobami, Ilorin
Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court, sitting in Ilorin, on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, convicted and sentenced Odeyemi Hammed Oluwaseun to one year imprisonment for internet fraud.
The convict, a self-proclaimed spiritualist, was prosecuted by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a two-count charge of internet fraud, impersonation, and obtaining by false pretenses.
The first count reads:
“That you, Odeyemi Hammed Oluwaseun, sometime in December 2023 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonestly induced one Bose to send $3,200 (Three Thousand Two Hundred Dollars) worth of gift cards to you, under the pretense that the gift cards would be used to diabolically influence her ex-husband to return and marry her, while you pretended and represented yourself to be one ‘Lord Hill,’ a female spiritualist using the email account [email protected]. By doing so, you committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code.”
The second count states:
“That you, Odeyemi Hammed Oluwaseun, between August 2023 and September 2023 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, dishonestly induced one Schneider Alina to send $4,500 (Four Thousand Five Hundred Dollars) worth of gift cards to you, under the pretense that the gift cards would be used to diabolically control her ex-boyfriend to return and marry her, while you pretended to be a female spiritualist with the Instagram account _Visions_by_Tendo_12. By doing so, you committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code.”
When the charges were read to him, Oluwaseun pleaded guilty. The prosecution counsel, Sesan Ola, reviewed the facts of the case, presented the convict’s extrajudicial statements, and tendered evidence, including $1,000 (One Thousand United States Dollars) recovered from him. Ola urged the court to convict and sentence the defendant accordingly.
Justice Abdulgafar, satisfied that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt, sentenced Oluwaseun to six months’ suspended jail term on each count. He also ordered the forfeiture of $1,000, an iPhone 15, and a 2008 Toyota Camry recovered from the convict to the federal government.
Oluwaseun, a 23-year-old man from Oyo State, defrauded his victims by posing as an American-based female spiritualist who claimed to have powers to help jilted women and estranged wives regain the affection of their partners.