A Nigerian national was arrested for cheating a city-based middle aged woman of 12 lakh rupees after befriending her on social networking site Facebook, police said today.
The victim who hailed from Mawlai area in the city had befriended one Eric Jack from UK. During the period their friendship evolved, Jack promised her some parcels containing valuables and 10,000 Pounds, East Khasi Hills SP M Kharkrang said.
Later she received a call from a courier company and also from other agencies demanding her to deposit money to obtain the parcels and money, he said.
The woman deposited Rs 12 lakh in different account numbers provided to obtain her gifts and more money. When asked to deposit more, she realized she had been fooled and informed the police, the SP said.
During investigations it was revealed that a Nigerian national identified as Chazurike Uche Click was using the fake account to dupe the victim. Click was arrested from Tigri T Point in the national capital and was brought to Shillong on a transit remand today.
Later, he was produced before a local court which remanded him to five days of police custody.
In another incident, two inmates of the Tura district jail were arrested today for threatening a senior police officer using a Facebook account.
Solly Ch Sangma and Johny A Marak, both arrested on charges of being cadres of the outlawed Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), used Facebook to issue threats of killing one of the officers, Kharkrang said.
Acting suo moto, a search was carried out at the jail premises during which a mobile phone was recovered and it was from this device that the duo had posted the threat, he said.
Meanwhile, more than 30 cases of online crimes were recorded in the state in the past one year, the police officer said.
