Man bags jail term for impersonating Flavour in $53k scam

A federal high court in Lagos has sentenced Courage Ipaka, who impersonated Nigerian singer Flavour, to two years in prison.

Ipaka was convicted for defrauding Yvelte M. Thompson, a United States-based woman, of $53,000.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator Azibagiri Dan Ekpar led the investigation into Ipaka’s fraudulent activities.

According to Ekpar, Ipaka promised to organize shows in the U.S. and received payments from Thompson through Bitcoin wallets.

The case came to light following a petition from Eyitayo Tolulope Abiodun and others on behalf of Thompson. The investigation revealed that Flavour had no involvement in the scam and was invited to clear his name.

“Upon investigation, we discovered that one Ipaka Courage who lives in Benin City was the perpetrator. The defendant admitted in his statement that he impersonated Flavour by obtaining $53,000 from a woman who is a United States citizen in 2021.

“He wired the funds through Bitcoin wallets and converted them into his Access Bank account where he received the value in Naira.

“The sum of N7.9 million was recovered from the defendant through Zenith and Access Bank manager’s cheques.”

The presiding judge, Dehinde Dipeolu, in his ruling, sentenced Ipaka to two years imprisonment with an option of a fine of N2 million.

Also, he forfeited the sum of N7.9 million to Thompson.