Three Nigerians Arrested For Defrauding Woman Of N219million In India

Three Nigerian nationals were apprehended in Delhi by the Pune City Police for allegedly cheating and extorting Rs 3.98 crore (N219,067,155.42) from a 60-year-old woman in Pune.

The accused, Jango Nicolas (29), Monday Okeke (26) and Paulinus Mbanugo (29), are reportedly residing in Nilothi Extension, New Delhi, according to IndianTimes.

The complainant in this case is a lady who works in a very senior position for a private corporation.

Last year, she communicated with a Facebook user who claimed to be from another nation.

According to investigators, this person was an internet fraudster who pretended to be someone in a high-ranking position by purporting to have assistants and account managers.

According to authorities, the complainant and the fraudster spoke often over the next two months, swapped phone numbers, and began chatting on WhatsApp.

The complainant’s birthday came around later, and the fraudster informed her that he had sent her a high-end iPhone as a gift, according to authorities.

Large sums of money were collected from the complainant after that, authorities said, under the pretext of customs clearance at Delhi Airport and other fake reasons.

According to investigators, the fraudster said he had been imprisoned after arriving in India and needed money to facilitate his release and medical treatment.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime and Economic Offences) Bhagyashree Navtake said, “In this case, the online criminals initially started taking money on the pretext of sending gifts like iPhone, jewellery and foreign currency and for various false reasons like customs clearance and other formalities for these gifts. The complainant was promised that she would be compensated for the money she was giving… She had made transfers of funds up to Rs 1 crore for these gifts.

“However, what started as a gift fraud turned into online extortion. The suspects started threatening her with various legal actions. She was told that there were illegalities involved in the items she had paid for and she would face action from government agencies. She transferred even more money under these threats.”

Senior Police Inspector D S Hake said the complainant ended up transferring Rs 3,98,75,500 to online fraudsters in as many as 207 transactions from two bank accounts.

The money was transferred to 67 accounts of 25 banks between September 2020 and March 2021.