Nigerian held for duping woman of Rs 2.5 lakhs

A Nigerian national was arrested for allegedly cheating a woman to the tune of Rs 2.5 lakhs, police said today.
One Omeleze Fred was apprehended in New Delhi on August 5 and brought here today, a release issued by Cyberabad police (East) said.
Fred tricked a city-based woman by introducing himself as an American by name of Benson and showing interest to "settle" with her in India. He developed friendship with her by posting fake pictures on social networking sites, the release said.
As per police, Fred also convinced her that he would invest USD five million in business in India.

On July 8, the victim received a call from a lady who introduced herself as an official from customs department at Delhi airport and asked her to pay Rs 2.5 lakhs towards custom duties as Benson (the Nigerian) was trying to bring dollars and gold into the country, it said.
Believing that, the victim deposited the amount in a bank and later realised that she was cheated, police said.

"He was brought to Hyderabad and produced in a local court which remanded him in judicial custody. He will be taken into police custody by filing a petition in the concerned court for further interrogation," said the release.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Fred came to India in 2012 and was staying at different localities of New Delhi.
After his original visit visa expired after two months of arriving in India, he got fake Indian Visa stickers prepared and pasted them on his passport in order to rent houses, it added.
The accused had also created several Facebook IDs by uploading photos of 'smart looking white Americans' and used to chat with Indian women by searching their profiles on the social networking site, police added.