Four Nigerians get 3-yr RI for online fraud in unique ruling
The four accused had created email IDs resembling that of prominent organisations and used to send emails to people informing them that they have won lotteries.
In a first case of Nigerian nationals being convicted for online fraud in the country, a Panvel court sentenced four of them to three-year rigorous imprisonment. The court also slapped a fine of Rs50,000 on them.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) PB Morale convicted Opera Joseph, Ofer Namdi, Ofecia Ayebe and Evaru Emanul for cheating people and creating false documents.
The accused had created email IDs resembling that of prominent organisations like the Reserve Bank of India, Bank of India and Coca Cola, and used to send emails to people informing them that they have won lotteries and if they want to encash it they would have to deposit certain amount in a bank account number provided by them (Nigerians).
Accordingly, a case of online fraud was registered at the Kalamboli police station in 2012. The police had arrested the accused from Kamothe and seized their laptops and mobile phones.
Later, the case was transferred to the cyber crime cell. Senior inspector Shekhar Bagade and assistant police inspector Suresh Swami investigated the matter.