Two Nigerians among three held for duping businessman
BHUBANESWAR: Crime Branch of Odisha Police has arrested three persons including a woman and two Nigerian nationals for their alleged involvement in duping a businessman of over Rs 2 crore.
The accused identified as Christoper Chizobam, Nnamdi Stanley, both Nigerians, and Arti Gautam were arrested from New Delhi and brought to Odisha on Saturday evening.
As per sources, the businessman based out of Bhubaneswar filed a complaint with the agency alleging a scamster, posing as a former IAS officer of Odisha cadre, contacted him on Facebook last year claiming he worked with the World Bank at Washington DC.
As their interaction moved to WhatsApp and emails, the scamster allegedly lured the victim to invest in supply of saffron to World Bank with the promise of receiving high returns. He reportedly asked the victim to send an email to the international financial institution expressing his interest to supply saffron for one of its projects. The accused then introduced the businessman with his associate by claiming he was the marketing agent of the farmers cultivating saffron in the country.
Tempted by the offer, the victim agreed to invest money. The accused then sent fake purchase orders issued by the World Bank and managed to cheat the victim of over Rs 2.65 crore. However when the miscreants continued to demand more money from him, the victim realised it was a trap.
During probe, the Crime Branch established that Arti opened bank accounts in her and others’ names. She shared the details of the bank accounts with Christoper and he used them to receive the ill-gotten money. While Christoper collected mule bank accounts, Nnamdi withdrew the cash from ATMs and handed it over to another Nigerian.
“During verification on National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) of Ministry of Home Affairs, it was established that this gang was involved in a series of cyber frauds across the country. Same mule bank accounts were used in at least 94 cases across 10 states. Further investigation is on,” said CID-CB IG, Shefeen Ahamed.
