A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced Odigie Moses to one year in prison for defrauding an Indian woman seeking spiritual healing and later threatening to release a nude video of her unless she paid him money.
Justice C.N. Nwabulu handed down the sentence on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, after Moses pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of cheating and impersonating a spiritualist.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in a statement issued on Thursday, said Moses used a fictitious TikTok account to pose as a spiritual leader and obtained $1,100 from the victim, identified as Sharon Kaur.
According to the commission, Moses was arrested in Ekpoma, Edo State, after receiving and laundering the money through his Zelle payment platform. The naira equivalent of the funds was subsequently transferred into his local bank account.
The EFCC said the fraud escalated after Moses persuaded Kaur to participate in a naked spiritual bath, which he allegedly recorded live without her consent.
He then used the recording to threaten the woman, telling her that he would make the video public unless she sent him money.
The commission said its investigation established that Kaur eventually paid Moses $1,100 in an attempt to prevent the release of the video.
The charge stated that Moses, also known as “Dr Solomon”, “fraudulently impersonate[d] a spiritual leader named Dr. Solomon on a fictitious Tiktok account” and obtained $1,100 from Kaur under the pretext of providing “spiritual prayer and assistance.”
The offence was said to contravene Section 321 of the Penal Code Act (Abuja), LLFN 1990, and punishable under Section 322 of the same law.
Moses pleaded “guilty” when the charge was read to him. Following the plea, prosecution counsel, Maryam Hayatudeen, urged the court to convict and sentence him in accordance with the law.
Justice Nwabulu subsequently convicted the defendant and sentenced him to one year imprisonment, with an option of a N300,000 fine.
The court also ordered that the $1,100 identified as proceeds of the crime be forfeited and returned to Kaur through the EFCC.
The case highlights how social media platforms can be exploited to disguise fraudulent spiritual services and facilitate financial crimes, with the victim subsequently subjected to further exploitation through threats and blackmail.
