Nigerian Man Who Pretended To Be An American Military Officer To Defraud People Gets Convicted In Kaduna

On Thursday, November 30, 2023, Justice A.A. Bello of the Kaduna State High Court pronounced a verdict, sentencing Zulayman Haruna, a fraudulent impersonator posing as a United States military officer, to a two-year imprisonment.

He was jailed after pleading guilty to one count of internet fraud upon being arraigned by the Kaduna Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The one-count charge reads: “That you Zulayman Haruna (a.k.a Mariee Guerrero) between January and October 2023 at Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, attempted to commit an offence and in such an attempt did a certain act towards the commission of the said offence, to wit: falsely presented yourself as Mariee Guerrero, a white female military personnel, to one Greg and other several unsuspecting victims on Facebook (a social media application) in order to cheat them and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 57 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law of 2017 and punishable under Section 309 of the same Law.”

He pleaded guilty to the charge, upon which prosecution counsel, E.K. Garba, urged the court to convict him accordingly.

Justice Bello convicted and sentenced Haruna to two years of imprisonment or the option of a fine of N150,000. He also forfeited an iPhone X, which was the tool of the crime, to the Federal Government through the EFCC.

Similarly, Justice A.A. Isiaka of the Kaduna State High Court sentenced Didam Jesse to two years imprisonment.

Jesse was jailed after pleading guilty to the one-count charge of cheating by impersonation upon being arraigned by the Kaduna Zonal Command of EFCC.

The charge reads: “That you Didam Jesse (aka Endurance Prince David) sometime in February 2023, in Kaduna within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did commit an offence to wit: cheating by impersonation wherein you falsely presented yourself as one Endurance Prince David on Facebook (an online social media platform) and in such assumed identity, cheated one Naziru HB the total sum of N7000 and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 308 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law, 2017 and punishable under Section 309 of the same Law.”

He pleaded guilty to the charge, following which prosecution counsel, M. Lawal, urged the court to convict him accordingly.

Justice Isiaka convicted and sentenced Jesse to two years of imprisonment but gave him the option of a fine of N100,000. He also forfeited the tool of the crime, a Techno Spark 8P and the N7,000 proceeds of the crime to the Federal Government.