With the arrest of 10 African nationals, the Delhi Police has busted a gang of online cheats who used to dupe people after befriending them on social media. Police said the accused gang members ran a call centre in the national Capital to entice their targets.
The accused have been identified as Philip (27), Augustime (26), Franklin (26), Fidelis (28), Simon (26), Nnekwes (26), Denial (28) and Emmaunels (26), all residents of Nigeria.
"They usually targeted people between the age group of 30 and 50 years through online chatting apps and befriended with them by sharing fake photos of a handsome person", said Anto Alphonse, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Dwarka district,
"The matter came to light after a sales executive of a tour and travel company alleged that he received messages from a foreign number regarding some query and the sender introduced herself as a woman named Anita Owen. She asked details to travel in India and told that she would further contact him after getting her confirmed tickets," said the DCP.
"On April 2, he again received a message from the same woman informing him that she has reached Mumbai airport and would take the flight to Delhi. After one hour, he received a phone from an Indian mobile number and the caller informed him that his guest Anita Owen has foreign currency more than the limit authorised to her," said the DCP.
"The caller asked him to pay the money as a charge and informed him that his guest (the woman) does not have India currency. The caller asked complainant to pay otherwise she would not be authorized to board in flight to Delhi. He deposited Rs 45,500 in the given bank account and thereafter he was unable to contact the said woman as well as the said caller from airport," said the DCP.
"During investigation, the location of the accused persons were traced to Mohan Garden area in West Delhi after police team managed to locate the International Mobile Equipment Identity ( IMEI) number of the mobile phone used by the accused to make calls to entrap unsuspecting people. Subsequently, raids were conducted and 10 African nationals were apprehended in connection with the incident. Several laptops, mobile phones, SIM cards were seized from them," said the DCP.
"Their interrogation revealed that after befriending the victims, they continued to chat with them for some time and after a period, offer them about sending a precious gift. Then the gang members used to contact by making fake calls to the victim and ask to pay the charges at airport in the name of customs duty and provide some bank accounts for depositing the amount and once the payment was made, they discontinued the use of that particular mobile number," said the DCP.
