Three Nigerians held for duping Rae Bareli teacher of ₹30 lakh
LUCKNOW: Online fraudsters posing as customs officers duped a female teacher of Rae Bareli of close to ₹30 lakh in the name of delivering an expensive gift package sent to her by a friend living abroad. The UP Special Task Force (STF) arrested three Nigerian nationals from Delhi on Wednesday in connection with the case registered in Rae Bareli district nearly 10 weeks ago.
Considering the amount involved, the STF began its investigation into the matter and arrested Nigerian nationals Okou Christian, Labaye Ke Justin and Nnalue Hycienth, living in the outer Delhi area.
As per a press statement issued by the STF, the fraudsters first created a fake profile on a social media platform posing as businessmen or entrepreneurs based in London.
They approached the female teacher and exchanged messages and then befriended her. Once it was done, the accused informed the woman that he was sending a gift package containing an expensive phone, jewellery and pounds as a gift to her in September third week.
A few days later, on September 22, a woman posing as a customs officer from Delhi called the teacher and said that she would have to pay ₹25,900 as customs duty to get the gift parcel. The female teacher paid the money online.
The trap set by the accused got murkier after it.
The accused then started raising new issues to demand money in lieu of the package. In one instance the woman posing as a customs officer informed the teacher that the packet contains
British pounds worth ₹40 lakh and got the woman to online transfer ₹4.25 lakh. In another instance, she threatened the teacher that the amount of money is worth crores and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is going to take action against her. The teacher, in desperation, paid ₹15 lakh fearing action from the ED.
The female teacher paid nearly ₹30 lakh to the accused and eventually went to the customs office in Delhi in October, where she realised that she has been duped. She then approached the police and lodged an FIR at Mill Area police station of Rae Bareli.