A Nigerian, Ifeanyi Joachin Nwafor, and his Indian wife were arrested in India on Monday for allegedly cheating a number of people on the pretext of getting their goods cleared from the customs department.
Police said the couple has so far conned people to the tune of Rs 6.5 lakh (about N235,943,500). The man, also known as Joe, also claimed to be a football player for a club in Nigeria.
Police said Joe is a native of Lagos in Nigeria while his wife hailed from Assam. Investigators claimed that Joe has so far told them that between 2010 and 2014 he played football for three state-level teams in Nigeria.
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Nwafor, a national-level football player, had come to Delhi in 2009. He had played football for the team of a reputed bank in Chennai till 2010. After that, he went to Kerala and played football for three state-level teams — Sky Blue Eda Pearl, Super Studio and Top Most FC — till 2014.
According to the police, the forgery came to light when a woman alleged that some months ago, a UK-based man, George Moor, became friends with her on Facebook.
“The complainant said, Moor requested her to accept a few gifts from him, which he wanted to be distributed among the poor. After few days, in July this year, she received a call from a lady, who stated that she was calling from the Mumbai customs and that her office had received a parcel from the UK for clearance for which she has to pay Rs 26,000,” said DCP (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse.
The complainant said that the woman again called her and told that customs officers had scanned the parcel and found it to be containing valuables.
“She was told that she has to pay Income Tax. Again, the complainant deposited Rs 95,600 in the bank account. Later, when she was again asked to pay some more money, she found it suspicious and reported the matter,” the DCP said.
During an investigation, a police team traced calls made and numbers used by the suspects, which revealed that the caller had visited Assam last year.
“Probe revealed that the caller had withdrawn the money deposited by the complainant on the same day it was deposited. Details of ATMs from were obtained and technical surveillance and CCTV cameras installed in the area,” the DCP said.
Another police official said the accused had several Facebook accounts with hundreds of friends.
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“He used to speak (to users) for days, befriend them, and later claim to send gifts to India. His wife posed as a customs official and made up random tax figures for clearance to transfer the money to bank accounts held by them,” the official added.
