Manipuri, Nigerian held in lottery scam

The Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Thursday arrested a Nigerian national Obaseki Prince (32) and a Manipuri woman Boni Sushila James (26) for allegedly running an email lottery scam.

The Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Thursday arrested a Nigerian national Obaseki Prince (32) and a Manipuri woman Boni Sushila James (26) for allegedly running an email lottery scam. The two were arrested from outside IGI airport on February 24 following a probe into a complaint filed by Rakesh Kumar (21) that he was cheated of R90,000 by making him believe that he had won a £7.5-lakh lottery.

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The scam has a distinct 'Metro city signature'. The worst affected were from Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, UP and Kerala. The bank accounts of the accused had more than R35 lakh since March 2010, the police said.

"Prince came to India in March 2008. Some of his Nigerian friends were already into lottery fraud and helped him launch his own. He met Boni through some friends," said Ashok Chand, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime). Prince allegedly specialised in sending fake emails through an e-mail nationwidebank@englandmail.com.

"The location of the sender is difficult to find in such e-mails. Once hooked, the victim is asked to send information to an e-mail account generated by Prince," Chand said.

Prince used to ask the victims to keep the matter secret till they received the amount. He then tells the victim that releasing of the funds would require some small fee. To make the offer seem authentic, calls were also made by some people in England.