'Yahoo Boy' who was about to escape to Malaysia jailed 24 years

A 25-year-old Internet fraudster, popularly called 'Yahoo Boy', Hope Olusegun Aroke, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison by a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja, for his involvement in a scam that fetched him N25 million.

Th undergraduate of the Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University, Malaysia, was handed the sentenced by Justice Lateefa Okunnu, after finding him guilty on a two-count charge bordering on obtaining money by false pretence, cheque cloning, wire transfer and forgery.

The court found Aroke guilty of the two charges and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on each of the two counts

The Kogi State born fraudster, the court heard, fell into troubled waters when someone he had scammed petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), alleging that he was involved in sundry fraudulent activities on the Internet.

The anti-graft agency then swung into action and investigated the Internet dealings of Aroke and the investigation revealed he was heavily involved in several romance scam that fetched him a total sum of 4,000 riaait Malaysian currency, which is an equivalent of N25 million.

He was nabbed a few days to escaping to the Asian country. Items recovered from the 'Yahoo Boy' include state of the art SUVs and other vehicles.