Gang, including 3 Nigerians, duping people on social media busted, 4 arrested

New Delhi [India], December 13 (ANI): Four persons, including three Nigeria nationals, were arrested by the Cyber Police Station for allegedly duping innocent people on social media on the pretext of sending gifts.

The four arrested persons were identified as Udon Etuk, Wisdom Okafor, Zigmi Lama (all Nigeria natives) and Sachin Rai.

The police have registered cases under sections 420, 120 (B) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Cyber Police Station, Saket.

One laptop charger, eight mobile phones, six keypad mobile phones, SIM cards, chequebooks, ATM cards and passbooks were recovered from the accused.

A complainant, who happens to be a professor aged 62, reported that she received a 'Friend' request from an uknown person on her Facebook Account.

The person, who used the profile picture of a woman, mentioned on the profile she was from the United Kingdom.

Later, the person shared an international WhatsApp mobile number with the complainant and the two started chatting. After a few days, the person offered her valuable gifts such as an Apple i-Phone and gold-plated wrist watch, among others.

Further, according to the complaint, the same person also sent her a video of packaging and receipts of the delivery parcel to win her confidence.

After a few days, the complainant said she received a call during which a person said he was from the Excise department and duty charges needed to be paid for releasing the gift items.

On this pretext, the complainant paid a total amount of Rs 27 lakh.

However, she later sensed that he was cheated and lodged a complaint. Accordingly, a case -- FIR No. 121/22 dated December 7, under sections 420 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) -- was registered at Cyber Police Station South.

Over the course of the investigation, the cyber crime team quizzed the complainant for more details. They learned that the complainant had received the friend request on Facebook but started chatting with the fraudsters on WhatsApp. All the interactions happened on these two social media platforms.

It was further learnt that the cheated money was transferred to various bank accounts in different cities. The team started collecting the details of the accused persons from Facebook and WhatsApp. The details of the bank accounts in which the money was deposited were also analysed.

The investigating team used technical surveillance and manual information to zero in on the location of one suspect -- Sachin Rai -- and he was successfully apprehended.

During interrogation, Sachin disclosed that he used to sell activated current bank accounts to the Nigeria nationals. Following sustained interrogation, Sachin revealed that he and one of his friends, an associate, were going to sell another bank account in the GTB Enclave area.

The probe team swung into action and, with the help of technical surveillance and human intelligence, the location of the accused was narrowed down.

Multiple raids followed and after an overnight chase, the three accused persons, including the Nigerian kingpins, were apprehended.

During interrogation of fraudsters and analysis of the recovered digital devices and instruments, it was found that the accused opened multiple bank accounts that were used to cheat innocents. (ANI)