Nigerian among two cyber fraudsters in Chandigarh police net

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Chandigarh, January 18

Two cyber fraudsters, including a Nigerian, who had duped a woman of Rs13.70 lakh on the pretext of sending her costly gifts, have been arrested by the cyber crime investigation cell of the UT police.

The police said one of the suspects, who posed as Richard from the UK, befriended the victim, a resident of Sector 21, on Instagram, last year.

The victim, in her complaint, stated that during the conversation, the suspect said that his birthday was approaching and as a kind gesture, his family sends gifts to all his friends.

The suspect then sent a message to the victim that since Diwali was approaching, he had sent £10,000 and some gifts to her.

A few days later, she received a call from a person who posed as a courier company executive and informed her that Richard had sent a parcel for her. The person asked her to deposit Rs40,000 to get the parcel. However, even after depositing the money in the given bank account, no parcel was received by her.

She called on the number from which she had received a call to enquire about her parcel following which the imposter told her that there were various expensive gifts in the parcel due to which customs clearance, police clearance and other permissions were required.

The victim then contacted the suspect, who posed as Richard on a WhatsApp number. He replied that there were expensive gifts, including gold sets, in the parcel. He sent photos of gold sets to the victim and made her transfer Rs13.31 lakh in the given bank account.

The victim later found that she had been duped following which she approached the police. A case of cheating was registered at the Sector 19 police station in December.

During the investigation, the suspects, identified as Satvinder Singh (33), a resident Delhi, and a Nigerian, Odoeke Fransic Ifeanyi (37), who is at present residing in Delhi, were arrested.

Laptops, debit cards recovered

The police have recovered mobile phones, laptops and debit cards from them. “We are gathering information about other persons involved in this cheating racket,” said a police official.