MUMBAI: Two Nigerian nationals have been arrested for allegedly cheating a city-based woman government employee of Rs 2.2 lakh, a senior police official said here today.
The accused-- Casmir Chitoke and Oliver Onyeka-- both in their thirties, were caught in New Delhi yesterday. They were brought to the city today and produced in a court, which sent them to police custody till April 28, the official said.
One of the accused had befriended the 42-year-old victim in March on Facebook by creating a fake profile. The duo then started chatting with each other. They also used to exchange messages over Whatsapp, he said.
"The accused had introduced himself as a businessman from the UK and said he wanted to come to India to meet her.
But a few days later, the victim got a call from Indian number saying that an expensive gift has been sent to her, although, she would need to pay duty to get it cleared from the Customs," he said.
Once she paid the amount, they started asking for more money under the pretext that higher officials need to be taken care of or else there might be an enquiry against them.
After paying around 2.2 lakh in multiple instalments, the victim realised she was being duped. She then lodged a case in this regard on April 6.
A team was formed and sent to Delhi to probe the matter. They started examining the accounts, where the money was deposited. The sleuths also checked the CCTV footage of the ATMs, he said.
The CCTV footage led to the accused, who had accompanied a pregnant lady to the ATM immediately after the victim had deposited the amount, the official said adding that Rs 1.6 lakh cash, seven mobile phones, one laptop and 18 ATM cards have been recovered from the duo.
The accused have been booked under section 66c (punishment for identity theft) and 66d (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of IT Act as well as section 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of IPC.