Nigerian man held for cheating people online by promising fake gifts

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda cyber crime sleuths arrested a Nigerian national in Delhi for cheating people on the pretext of sending them gifts.

The accused has been identified as Albert Emeka Christopher who was living in Uttam Nagar in West Delhi. The police seized five mobile phones, 13 cheque books, nine debit cards, and a Republic of Nigeria passport.

Albert, who came to India in 2020 on a business Visa, was running a cloth business at Uttam Nagar. He was married to Roopa Hanchinmani from Karnataka. He came to know that some of his Nigerian friends were committing cyber frauds. Albert, too, hatched a plan to cheat people.

He started befriending people on social media. He would tell them he was sending them gifts then called them pretending to be a Customs officer from Delhi airport. He then asked the victims to deposit huge sums of money into various bank accounts citing courier, customs, and foreign exchange charges.

In August 2020, he befriended Pasham Shiva Kumar of Choutuppal through WhatsApp. Albert told Pasham he was sending a parcel with valuable items like iPhone and laptop. Later, the Nigerian man called him from a different number and impersonated a Customs officer. He asked Pasham to deposit money for courier charges to deliver the parcel. The man transferred Rs. 1,62,000 to the accounts provided by the accused.

The same month Albert created a fake Instagram account, 'rose_willson110', and befriended Indrapally Pranitha of Ibrahimpatnam. The former introduced himself as a woman, Rose Willson, from Mexico. The two started chatting. Albert asked Pranitha to pray for his promotion and later told her that her prayers had been answered and he had been promoted. He said he wanted to send her some gifts and 30,000 pounds. The woman believed him. Later, she received a call from a Customs official who asked her to transfer Rs.3,29,700, which she did.

The police launched an investigation that led them to New Delhi where they arrested Albert at his residence on 9 April. He was brought to Hyderabad on transit warrant and is being produced before the court for judicial custody.