Delhi: Police bust Nigerian-led racket conning women from Nagaland

Police have busted a criminal gang led by a Delhi-based Nigerian man which cheated gullible Naga women of over Rs 35 lakh by falsely promising cheap i-phones and prize money for winning lotteries.

The racket was recently busted by Nagaland police with the help of their Delhi counterparts after a number of women filed multiple complaints at a police station in Dimapur about having been defrauded of their hard-earned money by a "foreigner" who contacted them over the internet, willing to sell them high-end electronic gadgets at a cheap rates and promising them prize money for lotteries they were told they had won. Investigators claim, while probing the case, they came across a smart modus operandi as part of which the gang used multiple bank accounts "sold" by locals to the Nigerian. He used to ask his victims to deposit the money in these accounts to claim the prize and later withdrew it from various ATMs.

Modus operandi

A Nagaland police team, which recently travelled to Delhi to go deeper into the case and arrest the kingpin identified as C Nwaneri (34), has filed at least three FIRs and found so far these women have been duped of over Rs 35 lakh. Nwaneri was assisted in the crime by three locals, including a chef working at an eatery in a popular Delhi Mall, all of whom "sold" their accounts to the foreigner for Rs 22-25 thousands. "We have seized 42 SIM cards, nine ATM cards, six phones, five bank passbooks and a laptop after searches were carried out at the residence of Nwaneri who lives in Bawana area of Delhi. It looks to be gang operating to dupe people, especially innocent women from Nagaland, with the help of multiple people from places like Delhi and nearby areas," Investigating Officer (IO) of the case and IPS probationer Dinesh Gupta said.

Investigation

Gupta said since the initial part of the case was cracked, more women from Nagaland have come forward to complain about having been cheated the same way.  "The investigation is taking us to many cities in the country and is building up," he said. All the women victims, officials said, were allegedly befriended by the Nigerian and his associates over social media posing as foreigners from a western country seeking "friendship" with them using names like 'John Smith' and others and fake profile photos.

Con incidents

Officials said after a laptop belonging to the Nigerian was "cracked open" to obtain information, they were shocked to find over 500 emails of individuals from various parts of the country and fake copies of official logos of the RBI, Income Tax department, banks and international bodies like UN and others being allegedly used by the gang to send luring "prize winning" emails, posing as official agencies. "Interestingly, these con incidents were being reported from major urban centres till now, but getting such complaints from women in far off Nagaland is surprising," they said, adding a "daily check book" was also recovered from the laptop where the kingpin had marked the activity against each person he tried to con.

"In some cases, it was written that the con email has been sent to the person but no response received, while against some names it was indicated that the person has agreed and will deposit the money sought in the given bank account and has to be collected now," they said.

Investigators said Nagaland police have collected CCTV footages from various ATMs from where the Nigerian used to withdraw the money which were deposited in the accounts that he had purchased from locals.

Charges

Police have slapped charges under various IPC sections like 420 (cheating), 419 (impersonation), 422 (dishonestly or fraudulently preventing debt being available for creditors), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and provisions of the Information Technology Act.