International cyber fraud racket busted; 2 Nigerians held
With the arrest of two Nigerian nationals from Delhi, the cybercrime cell of the Punjab Police has managed to bust an international cyber fraud racket. In the last few months, they have duped several people
With the arrest of two Nigerian nationals from Delhi, the cybercrime cell of the Punjab Police has managed to bust an international cyber fraud racket.
They used to allegedly introduce themselves as VVIPs on WhatsApp and send messages to people, mostly government officials, asking for financial favours in the form of Amazon gift cards and digital wallet payments among others, Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said.
In the last few months, they have duped several people by impersonating as cabinet ministers, DGP, chief secretary, and other IAS and IPS officers, Yadav said in a statement here.
With these arrests, the Punjab Police has dug up another trail, leading to deep-rooted cyber fraud nexus spreading from Delhi and involving mainly Nigerian with a sprinkling of Indian associates, he said.
Those arrested have been identified as Anioke Hyginus Okwudili, alias Poka, and Franklyn, alias William, both residents of Lagos in Nigeria and currently residing in Delhi. The police have also recovered a Canara Bank debit card, gadgets, mobile phones, laptops, and expensive watches from them.
Inspector general of police (cybercrime) RK Jaiswal said after investigation and information from WhatsApp, the state cyber cell got some major leads following which three different police teams were constituted and assigned tasks to investigate and nab the accused.
He said the Punjab police in a joint operation with the Delhi Police managed to catch Poka red-handed while he was withdrawing money from an ATM located near Vikas Puri in New Delhi.
During interrogation, Poka revealed that WhatsApp accounts were hacked from Nigeria and he used to withdraw the money from the ATM cards of bank accounts opened using fake documents in different parts of the country and then used to handover the money to the kingpin, William, who further used to electronically transfer the money to Nigeria, he said. William was also arrested in a joint operation by teams from the two states after a chase, he added.
Another police official said the arrest of the kingpin with the recovery of almost 108 GB data opened a realm of information revealing the magnanimity of the financial transactions amounting to several lakhs of rupees every day.
“The information containing screenshots of the impersonated IDs and transactions has been sent for forensic analysis for further probe into drug linkage and hawala transactions,” the official said.