Here is how an internet scammer landed in the troubled water of the anti-graft agency as captured by our correspondent Kunle Adeboye. (Snopsis)
In his underworld of fraud, Salami Ponmile Bassit, a Nigerian, was Katia Banks, a US national. That was his name, a female identity used as a bait for unsuspecting targets on Facebook, his habitat where he was the lord in cybercrime.
His reign, however, has hit the dead end. The long arm of law has caught him through the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the anti-graft body, which arraigned him at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos on Wednesday.
He had earlier been arrested alongside others, on July 31, 2025 at Lekki Garden Horizon Height , Lagos during a sting operation by operatives of the EFCC, following intelligence received by the Commission about the activities of some individuals allegedly involved in internet fraud in the area.
The count reads: “That you, Salami Ponmile Bassit, on or about 10th August. 2025 at Lagos within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently impersonated one “Katia Banks”, a white woman from United States of America on Facebook Mobile Application with intent to gain advantage for yourself and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(2)(b) of the Cyber Crimes (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015.” Lagos City Guide
He pleaded “guilty” to the charge when it was read to him.
Prosecution Counsel, M. S. Yabo called on Ilyasu Dauda, an operative of the EFCC, to review the facts of the case. And Dauda shed more light on the criminal profile of Bassit, revealing that he was fond of sending phonographic pictures to his unsuspecting victims via an iPhone 16. The phone was recovered from during investigation.
“The prosecution counsel, thereafter, sought to tender, in evidence, the Bassit’s extra-judicial statement, the iPhone 16 recovered from him and a forensic investigation document printed out from his device.
“There was no objection by his lawyer and the documents were admitted in evidence by the court.
Justice Dipeolu, after considering the defendant’s guilty plea and the evidence tendered by the prosecution, found him guilty and convicted him.
His lawyer, thereafter, prayed the court for leniency, saying he was “a first-time offender.”
In the end of the trial, Justice Dipeolu sentenced him to three months imprisonment with option of fine of N2m, in addition to forfeiture of the iPhone to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Reacting to the judgement, a public affairs analyst, Mr Emmanuel Isola differed and described it as a slap on the wrist, adding “such judgement can’t achieve a true rehabilitation for the defendant.”
Leave a Reply