Four persons, including a Nigerian national, were arrested for allegedly being involved in an online fraud racket, police said today.
The Nigerian national, Chiazo Nwaneri (34) alias Jasper, was arrested from Delhi by Dimapur police, while his accomplices - Narender Singh Bisht (27), Laxman Karniyal (36), were arrested from Uttarakhand and Chandan Kumar Choudary (28) from Delhi.
Nwaneri, allegedly the kingpin of the racket, is also reportedly wanted in Thane and Pune on similar charges, police said.
Following complaints by three Naga women in Dimapur about being duped of Rs 38.23 lakh, an investigating team visited Delhi and Uttarakhand in the last two weeks, arrested the accused and brought them here on Tuesday.
The modus operandi of the racket was to target women aged 35 years and above by creating fake Facebook account (George Smith in the case of the three Naga women) and chat with them over a period of time to gain their confidence and get their phone numbers, police said.
The accused also lured victims through emails and SMSes by saying that they had won a lottery from reputed brands and must pay some amount for smooth transfer of the money into the bank account, they said.
Six mobile phones, 42 SIM cards, a laptop, nine ATM cards, three internet devices, three passbooks, three cheque books, three pen drives, Rs 31,000 in cash and a fake visa in the name of the Nigerian national were seized from them, police said.
