The EFCC has charged a fake content creator in Jos with online fraud

Audu Ishida, better known online as Baddie Kylemilli, has been charged with online fraud by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Kaduna Zonal Command.

Ishida is charged with one count each of impersonation, retention of criminal proceeds, and money laundering by Justice Hauwa’u Buhari of the Federal High Court in Kaduna State, according to a post made by the antigraft agency on its X page on Tuesday.

Ishida was taken into custody in Jos, Plateau State, along with other members of an online fraud ring, when agents from the EFCC’s Kaduna Zonal Command conducted an intelligence-driven raid.

According to the agency, the defendant set up phony dating websites and online video content in order to trick gullible people.

Subsequent inquiries revealed that he received the money from his crime in the form of gift cards, which he exchanged for foreign currency online via an FSS card app. He then converted the foreign currency to Naira and deposited it into his bank accounts.

“That you, Audu Ishida (Baddie Kylemilli), on or about the 2nd of June, 2024, in Jos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, retained the total sum of $50 USD from your victim, which you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful act, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 20(a) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and punishable under Section 20(b) of the same Act,” the charge against Ishida read.

He, however, pleaded “not guilty” to the charge.

M.E. Eimonye, the prosecution’s attorney, asked for the defendant to be placed under arrest by the Nigerian Correctional Service and to set a trial date. Umar Usman, the defense attorney, did not object to the request.

Judge Buhari postponed the case until November 7, 2024, when the trial is scheduled to begin, and instead ordered Ishida to be placed under detention at the Nigerian Correctional Centre in Kaduna.