Two Nigerian nationals, who lured women through matrimonial sites and social media sites and induced them to transfer money in fake bank accounts on the pretext of customs charges, were today arrested by Delhi police.
Both the Nigerian nationals Ozoemena Michael Izuchukwu and Ekwenze Friday, did not have valid visa documents and after their arrests were produced before the court and sent to judicial custody.
Police have recovered three mobile phones, three laptops and a register from them.
The duo were arrested on a complaint lodged by a woman, who claimed that she had a profile on a matrimonial site and had come in contact with a person, who claimed to be a US citizen. She said that they stayed in touch through e-mails and phones.
The woman, in her complaint said that the said person in October 2014, had informed her that he was going to Spain from the US and will send her a gift packet containing an engagement ring among other things through courier.
The complainant further said that a woman claiming to be from Mumbai customs department called her to tell that there was a gift parcel, which will be released after she deposits Rs 42,500, as custom duty.
She said that after the amount was transferred, she got another call from the same lady demanding another Rs 1.8 lakh after which she got suspicious and lodged a complaint with the police.
Police said that the accused were using social networking sites to collect the personal details of vulnerable women.
"Thereafter, one accused Michael makes contact with these females by using fake email ID and obtain their phone numbers. As these women fall in their trap, they allured them on the pretext of sending some gift items," Joint Commissioner of Police Ravindra Yadav said.
"Another associate, mostly females posing as Customs Officer used to contact victims and ask them that the gift requires security clearance and ask victims to deposit the money in fictitious accounts. As the money was deposited in the account, same was withdrawn immediately by co-accused," Yadav said in a statement.
