Popular face of Nollywood known and liked by all especially the women folk, is happy to hear that the person who has been using his identity to steal from people has gotten what he deserved.
Ekoh Noel was the suspect of criminal act of impersonation. The EFCC investigated him and found him guilty of illegally collecting money through social media to the tune of N12.4m from people especially ladies using Mike Ezuruonye’s identity.
After the investigation and what was recovered, Ekoh Noel was tried by Justice P.I Ajoku of the Federal High Court in Benin, Edo state who found him guilty of impersonation and further sentenced him to one year imprisonment.
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Warning the general public to be careful of scammers, the EFCC tweeted:
“Ekoh Noel, who impersonated ace Nollywood actor, Mike Ezuruonye on Facebook to fraudulently obtain N12.4million from his victim has been sentenced to one year in prison by Justice P.I. Ajoku of a Fed High Court, Benin, Edo State.”
The official statement released by the EFCC partly reads:
“Ekoh Noel was arraigned on a one count charge of obtaining by false pretence. He was said to have impersonated and represented himself as Mike Ezuruonye, a popular Nollywood Star on Facebook to defraud his victims.
AdvertisementUpon his arraignment, the convict pleaded guilty to the charge and was consequently sentenced and convicted by Justice P. I. Ajoku.
The count read: That you Ekoh Noel sometime between November and December 2017 in Benin within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did by means of fraudulent trick obtained from Faith Ojo the aggregate sum of N12, 400, 000 (Twelve million, Four Hundred thousand naira only) when you represented yourself as Mike Ezuruonye a Nollywood movie actor on Facebook with email account: ekohnoel@gmail.com, contrary to Section 421 of the Criminal Code Act, laws of the Federation of Nigeria, C38, 2004 and punishable under Section 510.”
Mike who had earlier stated what he had to suffer because of the fraudulent acts, applauded the EFCC for their timely intervention and was very grateful for the effort of the crimes commission in arresting the culprit. Mike explained on social media that:
“It’s so so sad, I have gotten death threats from people, I have gotten from husbands of these people, boyfriends of these people, maybe because of the way I deal with it you know, that’s another thing. The EFCC in Benin have been so helpful, I mean, it is really really bad. I have seen five people caught. There was a time it was so much the inspector general of police’s office got my account investigated. I was invited to the IGP’s office in Abuja, it was that bad.”
#WeFightForYou: Nollywood actor Mike Ezuruonye commends #TheEagle in Benin for helping to nab impersonators who used his name for romance scams. "It's amazing that this women have come to believe that I am the one. They even use my picture, voice & old videos to defraud people." pic.twitter.com/nRyQCexNXy
— EFCC Nigeria (@officialEFCC) April 17, 2018
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