18-year-old caught in Lekki raid jailed after sending ₦1m from lottery scam to grandmother’s OPay account

The EFCC said he posed as an American woman named Julie Leach and convinced a US citizen that he had won a $250 million lottery.

He admitted selling the gift cards obtained from the victim and transferring the proceeds to his grandmother’s OPay account.

A court has convicted an 18-year-old man arrested in the EFCC’s raid on Applewood Estate in Lekki, four days after the operation, for laundering $800 ,worth about ₦1 million, from a gift card scam.

Justice Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, convicted Hassan Usman Olamilekan on Friday, October 30, 2026. He had been arrested on Monday, October 26, when operatives of the EFCC’s Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 raided the estate on Orchid Road at about 5am.

He pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of money laundering under the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022. The charge said he disguised the origin of $800 in gift cards that formed part of the proceeds of his unlawful activity.

The commission said he met his victim, a United States citizen, on Zangi, where he posed as a white American woman named Julie Leach. He then told the man he had won a $250 million lottery and needed money to activate the prize before he could claim it. The victim was persuaded to send him gift cards through the app.

Olamilekan admitted selling the gift cards on the Cardsonic app, converting the money to naira and sending it to his grandmother’s OPay account, the EFCC said. He confessed to benefiting from $800 in total. The EFCC did not accuse the grandmother of any wrongdoing.

After the guilty plea, EFCC operative Ebuka Abanga reviewed the facts of the case in court, and the judge convicted him.

He was fined ₦200,000 and ordered to remit ₦1 million to the Federal Government. He will remain in a correctional centre until he pays both sums. The court also ordered the forfeiture of an iPhone 11 Pro and a Poco C71 phone recovered in connection with the offence.

Olamilekan was one of 21 suspected internet fraudsters arrested in the raid, which also led to the seizure of five exotic cars. After preliminary investigations, the EFCC said 19 of the 21 were indicted and two were released. It said those found culpable would be arraigned.

The operation drew wide attention online. In a statement, the EFCC defended it as professionally conducted, saying there was no harassment, intimidation or unlawful arrest. It also said a young woman was briefly detained after allegedly calling the suspects to warn them about the operation, and that her phone was returned to her afterwards.