Matrimonial fraud: 5 Africans held for duping Chandigarh doctor of ₹47 lakh
The Africans got in touch with the female doctor through a fake matrimonial profile of an Amsterdam-based doctor; took money pretending to be detained by customs officials in Mumbai
Police have busted a gang of five Africans and their female Indian accomplice for duping a city-based female doctor of ₹47.22 lakh through an elaborate matrimonial fraud.
The doctor had told the police that she was using a matrimonial app to search for a partner. There, she got in touch with one Christopher, who claimed that he was also a doctor, working in Amsterdam. In the ensuing conversations over WhatsApp, they grew close and decided to get married.
In January this year, Christopher said he will be arriving in India to meet her. But on reaching Mumbai, claimed that he had been detained by the customs department, as he was carrying a demand draft for 2,80,000 Euros.
She even got a call from a customs official, who informed her that customs charges and currency conversion fee needed to be paid to release Christopher.
Worried about him, she ended up paying ₹47.22 lakh to various accounts, even by taking a bank loan, only to realise she had been duped through a well-thought-out scheme.
After she alerted the police, a case under Sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act was registered at the cyber crime police station.
Accused arrested from Delhi NCR
During investigation, police traced the accused to Delhi NCR, and arrested five Africans and their female Indian accomplice.
The arrested accused include Ubasinachi Kelly Anago, 39, Joshua, 27, and Christian Anthony, 34, all hailing from Nigeria and living in Noida; Prince Chinecheram Ono, 35, from Nigeria and Pascal Guilavogu, 28, from Guinea, both staying in Dwarka; and Pascal’s wife Shalini, 32.
With their arrest, police also recovered 25 mobile phones, two laptops, three modems and a landline phone.
Police said Ubasinachi and Joshua were running garment businesses, while Prince was running a restaurant with assistance of Pascal and Shalini. Pascal and Christian are also musicians.
Speaking about their modus operandi, police officials said Kelly was the main accused, and he and Joshua were both communicating with the doctor. Prince, Pascal and Shalini were also working for Kelly. Shalini was posing as the mother and sister of “Dr Christopher” to gain the victim’s trust. Christian was tasked with arranging bank accounts that were used for the fraudulent transactions. He was previously also arrested in a cheating case in Delhi in 2020 and was currently out on bail.
All foreign nationals, except Pascal, were staying in India despite expired visas. Their details have been shared with the Union ministry of home affairs to ascertain their involvement in other such cases.
