An internet scam artist, one Hope Olusegun Aroke, who is serving a 24-year prison sentence is coordinating fraud from jail, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] revealed on Monday.

Aroke was sent to prison by Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court, sitting in Ikeja in 2016 over his involvement in a scam that fetched him N25m. He was said to have been about to flee to Malaysia when he was nabbed, prosecuted and sentenced.

However, instead of turning a new leaf, Aroke is in ‘active communication with other high-value targets that are currently being investigated by the Commission for various offences relating to computer fraud and money laundering”, says the Lagos Zonal office of the EFCC.

The antigraft agency further revealed that Aroke, 28, masterminded the commission of $100m internet scam from prison.

WuzupNigeria reports that Aroke, an undergraduate of Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University, Malaysia, was jailed on 25th January 2016
for his involvement in an internet scam that fetched him Four Thousand Ringgit (about N25m then).

Aroke, who was 25 at the time, was arraigned before Justice Okunnu on a two-count bordering on obtaining money by false pretence; cheque cloning, wire transfer and forgery. The court found him guilty of the two charges and was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment on each of the two counts.

During prosecution, Aroke admitted sending the money to Nigeria through one Angela, who later helped him deposit its naira equivalent in a new generation bank.

Upon his arrest, two exotic cars valued at N23,000,000 were recovered from him.

Justice Okunnu ruled that the sentence should run concurrently.