DIMAPUR, May 12 - Dimapur police have arrested four persons, including a Nigerian, involved in an online fraud racket.
The arrests were made following three FIRs filed by three women with East Police Station alleging that they were duped of Rs 31.50 lakh, Rs 6.47 lakh and Rs 25,000 respectively.
DCP (Zone -1), Dimapur Police, Vilhousie Peseyie told reporters that a team of Dimapur police, including IPS probationer Dinesh Gupta and SI Chopika Chophy camped for 16 days in Delhi and finally arrested the four accused. The four are presently in the custody of Dimapur police.
Two of the accused including the Nigerian identified as Chiazo Nwaneri alias Jasper (31) and Chandan Kumar Choudhary (28) were nabbed in Delhi while the other two gang members Narender Singh Bisht (27) and Laxma Karniyal (36) were arrested from Uttarakhand.
Police also seized 42 SIM cards, six mobile handsets, nine ATM cards, three Internet devices, three passbooks, three cheque books, a laptop, three pen drives and a cash amount of Rs 31,000 in cash from Nwaneri.
On the modus operandi of the gang, police said the kingpin Chiazo Nwaneri used to open hundreds of fake Facebook accounts preferably using English names and posing as some rich gentleman. Through such fake accounts, Nwaneri starts to chat and get friendly with vulnerable victims, mostly women. After two-three months and having gained the confidence of the victim, Nwaneri would then devise various ways to fleece his victims, informed Dinesh Gupta, leading the investigation.
The most common strategy is to inform the Facebook friend that Nwaneri, posing as some rich European gentleman, was sending an expensive �gift� like Apple laptop, I-phone, gold jewellery. After a couple of days, one of Nwaneri�s accomplices would pose as some Customs or airport officials and inform the would-be victim over phone that the �gift� had arrived at IG Airport, New Delhi, and waiting to be claimed.
However, to claim the gift the accomplice would also inform the would-be victim that he or she has to pay some money varying from thousands of rupees to a few lakhs as airport �clearance fee�, �custom fee� or �security clearance fee.�
The victim deposits the money in an account given by Nwaneri or his men, but the gift never arrives. In many cases, Nwaneri would continue to fleece the victim citing one reason or the other. In some cases, Nwaneri and his men even threatened that they would send �international police� to arrest the victims if they did not pay up, police informed.
Other strategies employed by Nwaneri to dupe the victim include posing as a rich Westerner who is bored with the West and wants to settle in India or NE region along with all his wealth. According to police, Nwaneri has been staying in Delhi in a lavish apartment for the past three years on a fake passport after his passport expired in 2013.
DIMAPUR, May 12 - Dimapur police have arrested four persons, including a Nigerian, involved in an online fraud racket.
The arrests were made following three FIRs filed by three women with East Police Station alleging that they were duped of Rs 31.50 lakh, Rs 6.47 lakh and Rs 25,000 respectively.
DCP (Zone -1), Dimapur Police, Vilhousie Peseyie told reporters that a team of Dimapur police, including IPS probationer Dinesh Gupta and SI Chopika Chophy camped for 16 days in Delhi and finally arrested the four accused. The four are presently in the custody of Dimapur police.
Two of the accused including the Nigerian identified as Chiazo Nwaneri alias Jasper (31) and Chandan Kumar Choudhary (28) were nabbed in Delhi while the other two gang members Narender Singh Bisht (27) and Laxma Karniyal (36) were arrested from Uttarakhand.
Police also seized 42 SIM cards, six mobile handsets, nine ATM cards, three Internet devices, three passbooks, three cheque books, a laptop, three pen drives and a cash amount of Rs 31,000 in cash from Nwaneri.
On the modus operandi of the gang, police said the kingpin Chiazo Nwaneri used to open hundreds of fake Facebook accounts preferably using English names and posing as some rich gentleman. Through such fake accounts, Nwaneri starts to chat and get friendly with vulnerable victims, mostly women. After two-three months and having gained the confidence of the victim, Nwaneri would then devise various ways to fleece his victims, informed Dinesh Gupta, leading the investigation.
The most common strategy is to inform the Facebook friend that Nwaneri, posing as some rich European gentleman, was sending an expensive �gift� like Apple laptop, I-phone, gold jewellery. After a couple of days, one of Nwaneri�s accomplices would pose as some Customs or airport officials and inform the would-be victim over phone that the �gift� had arrived at IG Airport, New Delhi, and waiting to be claimed.
However, to claim the gift the accomplice would also inform the would-be victim that he or she has to pay some money varying from thousands of rupees to a few lakhs as airport �clearance fee�, �custom fee� or �security clearance fee.�
The victim deposits the money in an account given by Nwaneri or his men, but the gift never arrives. In many cases, Nwaneri would continue to fleece the victim citing one reason or the other. In some cases, Nwaneri and his men even threatened that they would send �international police� to arrest the victims if they did not pay up, police informed.
Other strategies employed by Nwaneri to dupe the victim include posing as a rich Westerner who is bored with the West and wants to settle in India or NE region along with all his wealth. According to police, Nwaneri has been staying in Delhi in a lavish apartment for the past three years on a fake passport after his passport expired in 2013.
