Six held for duping hundreds of women in India, other countries on dating apps
Five Nigerian nationals, living illegally in India, and a Bhutanese woman, were arrested on Saturday for duping hundreds of women in India and several other countries, of lakhs of rupees on dating applications.
The suspects created fake dating profiles by pretending to be Indian doctors living abroad, or doctors of other nationalities, on apps such as Tinder, Bumble, Okcupid, Badoo and Hinge, said investigators.
The suspects then connected with women and befriended them, said officers, adding that after gaining their trust, the suspects told the women that they were coming to India on a certain date to meet them.
“Then these men called the women and said they were
stopped at the airport by customs officials because they were carrying large amount of foreign currency or expensive gifts. The arrested woman suspect posed as a customs official and spoke to these women. She asked the women to pay a certain amount as customs duty to secure the release of their friend,” said deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Harish Chander.
The victims of the fraud, who were under the impression that the suspects were wealthy doctors, transferred money after the men assured them that they would pay them back, said investigators. “This gang has been operating for the past seven to eight years and we have come to know that they have duped hundreds of women so far, not just from India but also from other countries, including Portugal, Sweden and the Netherlands,” said assistant commissioner of police (Noida-1) Rajneesh Verma.
The suspects used translation software to talk to the women in their own languages.
The case came to light when a woman who was duped by the suspects filed a complaint atnsector 20 police station, three days ago, said officers.
“We seized 17 phones from the suspects and saw at least 30-35 chats with different women on every phone. This means that the group was planning to cheat 500 women in the past month alone,” added Verma.
He said the suspects spoke to the women on phone but did not do video calls. “When the women asked to speak to the men on video, the men stuck a white paper on the camera and claimed the camera was not working,” said Verma.
He said after receiving the money in bank accounts set up under false identities, they broke off contact with the women after a couple of days.
The suspects have been identified as Okolie Stephen, Okolie Prosper, Okosindhi Micheal, Umad Roland, Okolie Danieal and Kunjgmo. They were staying at Supertech Golf Country along the Yamuna Expressway.
They were produced before a magistrate and sent to judicial custody.