Nigerians con Chennai bizman of Rs 33.30 lakh, arrested

CHENNAI: Four Nigerians who allegedly cheated a Chennai businessman to a tune of Rs 33.30 lakh have been arrested by the city Cyber Crime police from Mumbai on Wednesday.

The cyber cops tracked down the suspects in a rental apartment in Navi Mumbai.

The accused posed as executives of a pharma firm in Canada and duped the victim after connecting through LinkedIn saying that they were looking for ayurvedic medicine for cancer.

The accused were identified as Okorie Godwill Sainasa (32), Uche John Imeka (47), Godwin Immanuel (32), and Eposie Uchenna Stanley (32).

The Cyber Crime police arrested the four men on charges of impersonation, cheating under IPC Act and other sections in IT Act.

The accused had been targeting business people who are involved in import and export business.

The accused posed as CEO and purchase manager of a pharmaceutical company in Canada. With the images of two foreigners, the accused texted the victim on LinkedIn and then on WhatsApp.

The accused asked the victim to purchase Ayurveda oil from a company in Delhi and send it to Canada. The accused told the victim that the company does not have an import export code and that it will cost Rs 4 lakh per litre if they had to purchase from Canada.

"The victim was told he could purchase the oil for Rs 2 lakh per litre and send it to the Canadian company at a cost of Rs 3 lakh. The accused gave contacts of the supposed Ayurveda company in Delhi, which is also managed by the same gang. The victim who believed it purchased about 18 litres of oil (a fake oil) at a cost of Rs 33.30 lakh. Since there was no response from the accused for about six months, the victim lodged a complaint at the Cyber Crime Wing of the CCB after realising that he was conned.