3 including one Nigerian held for cheating woman of Rs 23L

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda cybercrime sleuths have arrested three people, a Nigerian national and two people from northeast India, for cheating people in the name of charity.

On 13 February, 42-year-old Prashanthi, a resident of Yapral, met the accused on Twitter and started talking about spiritual matters. Later, they started chatting on Hangouts.

During their chats, the accused told the victim that he had received a donation of $6,52,000 from a wealthy man in the UK for charity purposes. He told Prashanthi he would transfer the amount to her bank account for charity works in India.

Meanwhile, another co-accused impersonated a Customs official and asked Prashanthi to transfer Rs 23 lakhs to 16 different bank accounts citing various charges to release the agreed amount. After the victim realized that she had been cheated she lodged a complaint with the cyber crimes police, Rachakonda, and a case was registered under various sections of the IPC and the IT Act.

On Friday, the police arrested 54-year-old Obidimma Hillary of Nigeria, and Lal David and Paukhawmuan of Mizoram from Bangalore and recorded their confessions. They told the police that another accused, Niyibizi Egide, who is absconding, targeted people through social media.

The three accused collected details of different bank accounts of northeast Indians, including the internet banking user ID, password, ATM cards, and PIN numbers by paying Rs 10,000 per account. Obidimma Hillary shared the account details with Niyibizi Egide. In this way, they had cheated Prashanthi to the tune of Rs 23 lakhs. After the funds were credited to their accounts, Obidimma Hillary and Lal David withdrew the money.

The police seized five mobile phones and 18 bank ATM cards from the accused. The police warned the public not to accept any random friend requests over social media.