Nigerian held for duping people on pretext of selling used cars at cheap rates

A 25-year-old Nigerian was arrested from Uttam Nagar for allegedly duping people on the pretext of selling second hand cars at very cheap rates, police said Thursday.

The accused - Okoye Ejike Kennedy who was posing as a German, is a permanent resident of Nigeria, they added.

A K Singla, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) said, a person named Sudhakar Manda, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase-III, has filed a complaint against the accused.

According to the complainant, he had seen an advertisement of a Nissan Terrano car being sold at Rs 4.5 lakh at an online e-commerce website of second hand cars.

Manda then contacted the mobile number provided in the advertisement and talked to Kennedy who introduced himself as Paul Heinz, a German citizen posted as an officer in the German Embassy in the national capital.

Kennedy told Manda he was going back to his country which is why he wanted to sell his car.

The accused assured Manda that if he transfers 10 per cent of the amount to his secretary's bank account, then he would be allowed to see the car, Singla added.

But Manda instead transferred him Rs 45,000.

Kennedy then sent a fake scanned appointment letter through which Manda was supposed to get entry into the Embassy. Once the money was transferred, Kennedy changed his SIM card, the senior officer said.

After getting the complaint, police started collecting the information.

On Tuesday, the police got a tip-off about the whereabouts of the accused and he was apprehended from Uttam Nagar where he was living in a rented accommodation, Singla added.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that he came to India in November 2013 on a business visa and after his visa expired, he continued to stay in Uttam Nagar illegally.

In order to make easy money, he started cheating people on the pretext of selling used cars, police said.

He used to copy pictures of cars from already posted advertisements on websites or applications and posted his own fake advertisement of Embassy cars in new-like condition at very cheap prices, they said.

The people who used to provide fake SIM cards and bank accounts to the accused are yet to be identified, police said, adding that a mobile and a laptop among others were recovered from his possession.