Police also mentioned that the investigation is on to ascertain how many people got cheated
Representational image
Bengaluru: The West Division police have busted an online fraud racket and arrested five Nigerian men and a woman from Tamil Nadu. They were cheating people on e-commerce websites such as Olx and Quickr. In a similar case, the North-East Division police have also arrested two people, including a Nigerian, for cheating people in a similar fashion.
The arrested have been identified as Bolaji Lawal Desmond, 36, his wife Averil Lawal, Chuka Okpala, 30, Okjie Colling, 28, Oja Lawal, 30 and Cristian Obina, 31. The police have recovered two cars, laptops of various brands, pen drives, memory cards and few affidavits from the arrested.
According to the police, the prime accused Desmond was married to Averil, a native of Tamil Nadu, and were residing in Seshadri Nagar, while the rest were residing in Tamil Nadu and hailing from Nigeria. They all had come to the country on business and student visas.
The fraud came to light after a victim Shekar, who got cheated of lakhs of rupees, filed a complaint with the police. In his statement to the police, he said that he had come across an advertisement on OLX, which offered a Honda City car for Rs 3 lakh. He thought that it was a good deal that such a premium car was available for a low price. He contacted them and got cheated. He approached the Chickpete police and registered a complaint.
Labhuram, DCP, West, said, “This gang used to click pictures of high end cars parked in the International airport parking lot and post it on Quikr and OLX, quoting a very low price. Eager customers would check the cars as the actual price would range between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, but were being sold for Rs 2-3 lakh.”
“The customer would call the contact number posted in the ad. One of the gang members would respond and claim that he was leaving the country and selling the car at lower price. He would give Averil's contact number and tell the customer that she was working for the Customs department and would take you through the procedures to buy the car,” added the officer.
When the customer calls up Averil, she would claim to be working for as an officer with the Customs department and tell them they will have to pay customs duties and parking fees and quote a higher price. She would provide them with her bank account details and ask them to deposit the money. This would convince gullible customers, transfer the money to the account. The accused would immediately withdraw the money, switch off their phones and stay underground.
The police also mentioned that the investigation is on to ascertain how many people got cheated. It is suspected that they have cheated huge number of people in a similar fashion. Also, they used to advertise of laptops on sale and other electronic gadgets and cheat people after asking them to deposit money into their account. In the second incident, the North-East division police have arrested two Nigerian national while three are absconding for cheating people using the same modus operandi.
The accused have been identified as Ehibhi Ehis, 27, a Nigerian national residing in Kothanur and Indrani, 25, a resident of RT Nagar. The three absconding have been identified as Joseph, a Nigerian national, Sophia and Muralidhar, both city residents. Based on a complaint filed by Srinivas, a victim, who was cheated of Rs 95,000 in a similar fashion, the police arrested the duo and launched a hunt for the other three.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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