Man duping people on social media site held by Ghaziabad Police

The Ghaziabad police have arrested a Nigerian national, who allegedly duped people to the tune of lakhs of rupees through social media websites by offering them fake prizes and asking them to deposit money in a specified bank account to receive the prize money.

According to police, the accused has been identified as Friday, a native of Lagos state in Nigeria. The police said that the accused used to lure people in the name of fake lottery schemes and gold prize by making fake social media accounts.

Discussing the modus operandi, Ghaziabad senior superintendent of police, Vaibhav Krishna told the accused used to contact a person through fake accounts on various social websites and asked them to deposit money into bank accounts on the pretext of these fake prizes and other benefits.

"The accused used sent a fake prize-winning letter to various people and if any of the email receivers responded agreeing to receive the prize money, he would ask them to send some money as fee and later disappear. He also cheated people on the pretext of starting a business abroad through social media sites and extort money such as excise, custom, registration," Krishna said.

The police said that three laptops and three mobile phones have been recovered from his possession.

"The arrested accused appears to be a part of a major Nigerian racket involved in illegal activities. We are questioning them about their targets and the other gang members" added Krishna.

The SSP further asked people to keep away from lucrative offers on social media or social networking websites. The officer also appealed to the people to inform the police about any such offer being made to them.