Nigerian national held for matrimony fraud
Attracted to the easy money earned through matrimony frauds by some Africans, a 30-yearold Nigerian, who came to India got his visiting visa converted to business visa and started cheating women. The accused posing as a highly qualified professional on the matrimony websites lured several women and collected huge amounts of money.
Rachakonda cyber crime police arrested Abel Odara, 30, from Noida and seized several electronic items from his possession used to commit the offences.
A woman living in the city, who was looking for a prospective groom created a profile on Shaadi.com. She received a message from the profile of Dr Ayush Tyagi, a widower, expressing interest to marry her. They conversed over phone and Tyagi told the woman that he wanted to migrate to India and settle in Hyderabad along with his daughter, as his wife had died in a car accident. He also shared his travel plan with the woman and told her that he would arrive on August 8 at Mumbai. who booked a case under Sections 417, 419, 420, 468 and 471 r/w 34 of IPC and Section 66 (C&D) of IT Act.
The police arrested Odara at Noida, who had created the profile on the matrimonial site and conversed with the victim.
Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mr Mahesh Bhagwat said “Adel Odara is one of the most wanted criminals, indulging in cyber frauds. He came to India in 2014 on a visit visa and got it converted to business visa. On learning that several African nationals were making easy money through matrimonial frauds, as victims were not complaining to the police, he also adopted the same modus operandi.”
The Commissioner said that the accused had used pictures of handsome men in the matrimonial profile and posed as a highly qualified and earning professional seeking a bride.
After chatting for a few days, the accused informed the victim that he would send gifts like phones, jewellery and cash. Other members of his gang posing as customs officials started contacting the victim to extract money to release the gifts.