A 43-year-old Nigerian national, Igwe Festus Abraham, has been arrested in India for allegedly duping over 90 persons across the country, Indian Express reports.
Abraham, a resident of Malviya Nagar in Delhi, was arrested by the cyber-crime cell of Pune police.
The police team nabbed him in Delhi on Thursday, revealing that he had 14 ‘overwhelming’ accounts in his name, in reputed banks: HDFC, Canara, SBI, ICICI, Syndicate and other banks.
Reports have it that the suspect has so far duped more than 90 people across India through lottery scams to the tune of around Rs three crore.
His arrest reportedly came after the cyber-crime cell started investigation into a case registered at Alankar police station in which a woman was cheated for Rs 16 lakh after she received an email saying that she had won a lottery of GBP 500,000.
The victim was reportedly made to make several payments on various pretexts, right from processing fees to chemicals needed for cleaning foreign currency notes.
According to the report, the woman had received an email in September last year from a dubious mail address:rbiforeignexchangeonlinedepartment@hotmail.com saying that she had won a lottery.
Subsequently she was asked to make payment by electronic transfers to various bank accounts.
Also, in December last year, she was told that one Abraham (the suspect) was coming to meet her and she was asked to make arrangements in a hotel for him.
However, on December 6, he allegedly met her in the said hotel and showed a suitcase, which had bundles that “looked like currency notes” but were wrapped in green polythene.
Afterwards, Abraham reportedly told her that the chemical needed to clean the notes had spilled and she would have pay more for its purchase.
He was said to have given his victim two real currency notes, which she got converted into rupees, thus trusting the fraudster.
The woman realised that she had been duped after an mail address given by the fraudsters for final payment of the lottery money bounced despite several attempts.
Luck ran out on the suspect after cops traced him based on phone numbers used by him, account numbers to which the payments were made and his photo.
Comments