Nigerian held in Ghaziabad for online fraud

In a joint operation, Sahibabad police and cyber crime cell arrested a Nigerian from the Rajendra Nagar area here Tuesday on charges of online fraud, police said.

The arrested was identified as Friday, son of Ogboo, a native of Lagos in Nigeria. At present, Friday was living in a rented home in Tilak Nagar, New Delhi.

The police nabbed Friday using his call details.

City SP Shlok Kumar said Sahibabad police had received a complaint from one Dinesh Kumar that a Nigerian national had defrauded him of Rs 2 lakh on the pretext of helping him establish a gold business.

Kumar had transferred the sum into the account of Friday through net banking. However, when Kumar called him, there was no reply. Following which, Kumar lodged an FIR.

Police have recovered three laptops and three mobile phones which were used to hoodwink gullible persons.

After a brief period away from India, Friday returned to the country by changing his name and passport. He contacted unsuspecting persons through social networking site Facebook and internet-based messaging service WhatsApp.

He lured them on the pretext of business opportunities. He confessed to have swindled a total of Rs 50 lakh from his victims, police said.

He has been sent to jail and booked under appropriate sections of IPC and IT Act, the officer added.