3 Nigerian Yahoo-yahoo Boys and a Woman Arrested in India for Duping People Using Fake Online Lottery (Photo)

 

The Crime Branch has arrested three Nigerian nationals and an Indian woman for allegedly duping a man of over ₹1.5 crore on the pretext of offering him lottery money. The police are investigating whether there are more victims.

 

Suleiman Lawal alias Benjamin (62), Ugochukwu Usifo alias Brown Bruno (32), Ichaba Lucky Igele (41), and Bandana Chettri alias Niki alias Anjali Gupta (43) allegedly cheated Punjab-based Kamaljeet Singh, who approached the Delhi Police on June 22.

 

He told the police that the accused had cheated him by promising a lottery prize worth several thousands of dollars by a famous brand a few months ago.

 

DCP (Crime Branch) G. Ram Gopal Naik said the gang sent bulk texts on mobile numbers obtained from social networking sites proclaiming lottery wins. When Mr. Singh fell for the trap, he was asked to give details, including name, address and bank account information. Next, the gang asked him to pay a registration fee of ₹10,000. After that, it asked for a few lakhs in the name of service charge and then a conversion charge. Eventually, he was told that he would get tax exemption if he paid a few lakhs extra. The gang also forged documents by financial institutions to convince him.

 

After the complainant paid the amount demanded, Benjamin arrived at his house with a stack of money. “The money was in bundles. Only the first and the last notes were dollars. The rest were blank papers,” he said.

 

Benjamin told him not to open the bundle as the ink had some poisonous substance that could lead to a chronic disease. He told him that he could order a chemical from the U.S. to contain the effects of the ink. Mr. Singh fell for this trap as well. The gang called him saying Benjamin had been arrested while picking up the chemical from the airport and asked him to pay ₹35 lakh as bribe. “That’s when he got suspicious and approached us,” said Dr. Naik. They were arrested from Khirki Extension.

 

-TheHindu