Six, including 4 foreigners held for duping Gurugram woman of ₹8.85 lakh

Gurugram: The cyber crime team of Gurugram police arrested six fraudsters, including four Nigerian nationals, for allegedly cheating several women on social networking sites, police said on Friday

Gurugram: The cyber crime team of Gurugram police arrested six fraudsters, including four Nigerian nationals, for allegedly cheating several women on social networking sites, police said on Friday.

Gurugram, India-May 12, 2023: Priyanshu Dewan, ACP Cyber Crime along with ACP Crime, Preetpal addresses a press conference after arresting six accused including two women in an alleged Cyber fraud case at the Commissionerate building, in Gurugram, India, on Friday, 12 May 2023. (Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times)**To go with Leena Dhankar's Story

Police said they recovered 16 mobile phones, four laptops, three passports, six ATM cards, 10 cheque books and 12 passbooks from their possession.

The suspects were identified as Samuel Ubaka Igwatu, Emmanuel Chukwudi, Anidebe Emeka Alex, Audimnobifitu Aloysis — all of whom are Nigerian nationals and Wassomichon and Chanchamaliyu Panme from Manipur. Police said they were arrested from Mohan Garden in Delhi.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that the suspects posed as doctors, engineers and information technology (IT) professionals and got in touch with women on dating sites and matrimonial apps and took money from them on the pretext of clearing customs fees for gifts. “We cracked down on the gang members after a Gurugram resident complained on March 14 that she was duped of ₹8.85 lakh,” he said.

The victim alleged that on March 4 this year, she received a friend request from an Instagram id in which the person introduced himself as a doctor from United Kingdom.

Assistant commissioner of police (cyber) Priyanshu Diwan said that the victim shared her mobile number and they started chatting on WhatsApp. “One of the suspects posing as a doctor said he would be sending some gold items and diamonds. On March 4, she received a call from a woman who introduced herself as customs official in Mumbai airport and said that gold and foreign currency had arrived in her name. The woman initially asked her to deposit ₹45,000 as tax. The victim fell into a trap and was duped of ₹8.85 lakh,” he said.

ACP Diwan said the victim soon realised that she had been cheated as the suspects were asking her to deposit another sum of ₹5 lakh.

Police said after conducting an investigation, a case was registered under Section 120 B (conspiracy), 419 (impersonating) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Cyber Crime police station on March 14.

Investigators said they traced the internet protocol (IP) addresses of the suspects and a raid was conducted by a team led by Jasvir Singh, station house officer (SHO) of the Cyber Crime police station and the suspects were arrested from the national Capital on Wednesday and Thursday.

ACP Sangwan said during interrogation, two of the foreign nationals revealed that their passports had expired and they were staying illegally in India for the last one year. “One of them could not provide any document and despite searching the house, we could not find his passport. We will write to the Nigerian embassy,” he said.

Police said during questioning, it was also revealed that they used to befriend women from the Northeastern states and used to lure them to join their gang.

Police said the gang had opened at least 250 bank accounts that were used to transfer money.

ACP Sangwan said the suspects had cheated at least 1,000 women in the last 14 months on the pretext of receiving gifts.

The suspects will be produced before a court on Saturday, police added.