Farmer falls for ‘contest’, loses Rs1.5 lakh

A Nigerian tourist was arrested on Thursday for cheating an Assam farmer of Rs1.5lakh.

The modus operandi was the most-used one. He sent an SMS to Mohammood Islam Shamshool Haq, 29, saying that he had won an international Coca-Cola contest and he would given him an RBI cheque of Rs4.2 crore. But he would have to pay Rs1.5 lakh for processing fee.

“Osayande Osaze, 37, Nigerian tourist was booked for cheating, forgery, impersonation and section 66 (c) (b) IT Act and was remanded in police custody till October 3,” said Prabhakar Satam, ACP (Kurla division).

The police have seized his passport. Haq, a resident of Assam, said: “On July 27, I got an SMS saying that I had won a contest. I was asked to mail osaze@coco-cola@gmail.com with my details.”

Osaze replied to his mail saying that Haq would have to pay Rs1.5 lakh processing fees to claim the money. “I sold my farm land and deposited cash in six instalments in the SBI account number,” he said.

Osaze told him that he would have to deposit Rs45,000 more and then come down to Mumbai to collect the RBI cheque.
On September 25, Haq and his brother Abbas reached Mumbai. However, Osaze kept on asking for more money. Haq suspected foul play and went to the RBI office at BKC. He learnt that no such cheque had been issued in Haq’s name.

He lodged a complaint.The police told Haq to contact Osaze. Haq called up Osaze and told him that he was staying in GSK Hotel in Kurla (West). He asked Osaze to come there to collect the amount. The police laid a trap and arrested Osaze, Satam added.