Authorities in Indian have begun a manhunt for a Nigerian national who allegedly defrauded a 62-year-old woman of N12,748,500 (about Rs 22.52 lakh).
According to reports from the Asian country, the woman met the unnamed Nigerian online and they both struck up a friendship, chatting and texting each other.
Sometime last year, the Nigerian contacted the woman and tricked her into transferring Rs 22.52 lakh into his account on the pretext of “securing” his release from the customs authority at New Delhi airport.
Police said that the suspect had informed the woman on September 15, 2017, that he was visiting India for some work.
Two days later, the victim received a call from an unidentified woman who said that her friend had been detained by customs officials at New Delhi airport for possessing currency notes in excess.
The fraudster managed to convince the victim about the need to transfer the money for “securing” his release from customs officials at the earliest, police said.
Hadapsar Police’s sub-inspector Rahul Ghuge on Monday said,
“The victim, without verifying the credentials of the caller, had transferred Rs 22,52,285 online into eight bank accounts belonging to the Nigerian national over a period of time till February 15. ”
“The victim contacted the suspect several times over phone and requested him to return her money but he gave vague and misleading replies and refused to repay the money.
“The panicked woman filed a complaint with Pune Police Cyber Crime Cell on February 15. The cell, after a preliminary inquiry, referred her complaint to Hadapsar Police for lodging an FIR under the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act,” he added.
