Three Nigerians held for duping people through matrimonial sites

MP | 25 Aug 2018 | Kolkata: Officers of Kolkata Police arrested three Nigerians including a woman on Friday from Delhi, on charges of duping people after befriending them through a matrimonial site. 

The police also arrested a woman, who is a resident of Assam, along with the three Nigerians. 

A few days ago, a complaint was lodged with Anandapur police station, alleging that a woman was duped to the tune of Rs 18 lakh. Police initiated a probe and came to know about the Nigerians involved in the case, who were operating from Delhi. 

A police officer said that the arrested persons used to create profiles on matrimonial sites with different names. They used to claim themselves to be settled in various countries to impress potential victims. 

They also used to upload photographs of other people in their profiles. They used to introduce themselves according to the details provided in their profiles to the people who used to call them up after getting their mobile numbers from the matrimonial sites. The accused soon befriended them while talking over phone. 

Stating that the arrested persons had opted for an old modus operandi to cheat people, a police officer said that they used to send some gift boxes to the person they had befriended. 

After a few days, they used to say to the person that the delivery of the gift parcel was getting delayed due to a payment needed for the same. They used to then request the person to make the payment. 

They used to provide details of bank accounts in which the victims were asked to deposit the money. The same thing had happened with the woman who had lodged the complaint with Anandapur police station. 

She had deposited Rs 18 lakh in phases in the bank accounts of the accused. 

She had lodged the complaint with the police after suspecting that she was getting cheated, as she had not received any gift pack and the demand for money was also going up almost everyday. 

The police initiated a probe and came to know that the person with whom the complainant used to talk over phone, was in Delhi. Following this, the police went to Delhi and arrested almost all the members of the gang. 

Police are bringing them to the city in transit remand. They will be questioning the gang members to assess how many people them have cheated and the total amount of money they have taken from them so far.