Godwill (23) and Sunny (31), both Nigerian nationals, Naveen Sejwal (23) and Sanjeev Tripathi (25) were apprehended following investigations into a complaint filed yesterday, ACP (West) V Renganathan said.
"Sejwal, an unemployed graduate, belongs to a poor family and became a member of this gang to earn easy money in short time. Tripati, who is pursuing MBA, is working as the team leader with a company in Noida, also wanted to earn easy money in short time," he said.
According to Renganathan, one K Mohan Rao Baitharu from Odisha approached police claiming that he was cheated by a gang who made him believe that he had won a lottery.
He was told in an e-mail that he had won seven crore pounds in a lucky draw and first asked to pay Rs 16,500 to release his parcel from Delhi airport.
"He deposited Rs 16,500 in the account number given to him. He was then asked to deposit Rs 98,000 to exchange British Pounds into Indian rupees and he did so. He was again asked to deposit Rs 5.27 lakh and then he became suspicious and approached police," he said.
A sub inspector, acting as a friend of the complainant, contacted Godwill, who asked him to hand over Rs 15.36 lakh to Sejwal and Tripati.
Sejwal then allegedly contacted the complainant and informed him that he was sending Tripati to collect money in Janakpuri.
"A trap was laid and Tripati was arrested following which others were also apprehended," Renganathan said.
"The gang used to ask victims to deposit cash for release of lucky draw amount through RBI. Sejwal used to impersonate as RBI officer during conversation to win the confidence of the victim. They also used to send e-mails through international numbers to win the confidence. This modus operandi of international fraud is called Nigerian 419 Scam," he said.
