Lagos court sentences 18-year-old over $800 gift card fraud

A Federal High Court in Lagos convicted 18-year-old Hassan Usman Olamilekan of laundering $800 obtained through a gift card scam targeting Gary Brewer, a United States citizen. After Olamilekan pleaded guilty, Justice Dipeolu fined him N200,000 and ordered him to pay N1 million in restitution to the Nigerian government; the court also ordered two phones forfeited. Olamilekan posed on Zangi as an American woman named Julie Leach and persuaded Brewer that he had won a $250 million lottery. He admitted selling the gift cards, converting the proceeds to naira and transferring the money to his grandmother’s OPay account; he will remain in custody until he pays the ordered amounts.