Two Nigerians, who allegedly befriended with a woman and duped her of Rs 70,000, were arrested, police said. Cyber Crime Police identified the accused as Martin Valentom and Tony Ifeanyi.
The duo was arrested from Delhi on Monday, the police said. Officials acted on a complaint lodged at the Cyber Crime Police Station (East). The woman had posted a photo of herself on a matrimonial site.
Later, one Kuma Jordan, a French national, introducing himself as a pilot contacted her and expressed his interest in friendship. They then exchanged WhatsApp numbers and began to chat and make WhatsApp calls.
On January 30, the victim received a photo of passport and ticket of Jordan who said he is coming to India. On January 31, the victim received another call from a man claiming to be from the Customs Department at the Mumbai airport.
The caller further contended that to issue a yellow card to Jordan Rs 55,000 was required and the amount was transferred by the victim to a man, Robert Kang's account.
Thereafter, Jordan called the victim and said he required Rs 15,000 to travel from Mumbai to Delhi and on February 1 this amount was also transferred by the victim to a different account.
Furthermore, the victim received another call from a woman who claimed to be from the Customs Department and told the victim that Jordan has Euro currency which is illegal in India and asked for Rs 95,000 as Customs duty.
Later, the woman felt that she was duped and reported the matter. "During investigation, police identified the accused and arrested them. The accused revealed that they hatched a plan to defraud people online to make friends for which they created fake profiles on different matrimonial websites, sent requests to innocent unmarried women using foreign numbers and introduced themselves through lucrative profiles," Preet Pal Sangwan, ACP (crime) said.
Police seized one laptop, 11 mobile phones, and six passports from their possession.