Delhi: Four Nigerian nationals arrested for duping woman of Rs 6 lakh
Oct 08, 2023
New Delhi [India], October 8 : Four Nigerian nationals have been arrested for allegedly duping a woman from New Delhi to the tune of Rs 6 lakh on the pretext of sending her expensive gifts, police said on Sunday.
The accused were identified as Elvin Nwachi, Chukwuma Hycent Ugwa, Martin Onyeka, and Cyril Mgbeokwere. The police also seized 3 laptops, 13 mobile phones, two Wi-Fi dongles, and five SIM cards from their possession.
The incident came to light when the victim, a resident of Delhi's Malviya Nagar, approached the police and lodged a complaint.
"A woman, resident of Delhi's Malviya Nagar, informed us that in April this year, she had received a friend request from an account named Bruno George on Facebook. Later, they started chatting on WhatsApp. A week later, the man told her he had sent a gift for her from the United Kingdom (UK). After some time, the woman received a call from another woman who asked her for Rs 90,000, claiming that the gift was stuck with the customs at Mumbai airport as it comprised of Rs 62 lakh in cash and mobile phones. She threatened the complainant to take legal action against her if she did not transfer the money," the police said.
"The complainant then transferred the said amount to the bank account as provided by the accused. Thereafter, they again called the complainant and said that the parcel contained cash in foreign currency so they would transfer the amount after exchanging the money in INR. The accused, thus, kept asking for money on different pretexts, and hence, the complainant had transferred a total of Rs 6,33,000 in their bank accounts," it added.
Meanwhile, a case was registered into the matter at the Malviya Nagar police station.
A team was formed to enquire into the matter. The team started working on all aspects of the cases. Inputs were developed through technical and manual sources.
It was revealed that the funds were flowing from two bank accounts to multiple accounts and then withdrawn from ATMs in different places in Delhi within a few minutes of the transfer.
On Saturday, the team got the information about a 'cheating syndicate' being run by Nigerian nationals in Delhi's Mehrauli area.
After that, the team conducted a raid in the area and nabbed three of the accused. Also, another accused was apprehended from Delhi's Dwarka, the police said.
On interrogation, the accused revealed that they had cheated around 100 people across India and that they created fake profiles on social media in order to dupe people.
Further probe is underway into the matter. More details are awaited.
