Two Nigerians and an Indian lady have been detained by India’s cybercrime police for allegedly defrauding a resident of Ayanavaram in the Indian city of Chennai out of 1,126,559 (about Rs. 1.2 lakh).
Hugo Fransico, 40, Duru Clinton, 27, and Tabitha Anal, 32, of Nigeria and Manipur, India, have been named as the defendants.
The Indian Express reports that on May 5, the Cyber Crime police got a complaint from a man alleging that he had been contacted by a woman on Facebook who claimed to be from London and asked for his assistance since she was planning a trip to India. After that, the complainant was informed by the woman that she was sending him a gift as a sign of goodwill.
The man was subsequently told to pay the money as customs and processing fee for receiving the gift article.
After paying the amount and receiving no response from the woman, the man realised that he was conned and approached the police. The police registered the case on June 25 and began an inquiry.
The police said that during the investigation they traced that the accused were operating from in the Haryana axis of India. And based on the directions of City Police Commissioner Sandeep Rai Rathore, a special team was formed and deployed to arrest the suspects.
“The fraudsters were then arrested with the help of the local police. The police also seized cell phones, laptops, pen drives and other documents from them. The accused were produced before a court in Faridabad, a transit warrant was obtained and they were brought to Chennai on Sunday where they were remanded in judicial custody.
“In a message, the commissioner urged the public to be alert while using social media and avoid interacting with strangers who pretend to offer gifts,” the report read.
