Three Nigerians among four held in fake lottery scam

Three Nigerians and their Indian associate were arrested by the Cyberabad Police from Delhi last week for allegedly defrauding a city-based person of Rs 21.95 lakh.
The accused made the complainant deposit Rs 21.95 lakh between April 2015 to November last year after sending him messages that he had won a lottery of Rs 4.5 crore, according to police.
While the Nigerians are identified as Gauza Aristide, Omeke Eric Tochukwu, and Okwereaku Tochukwu, their local accomplice as Anand Nagesia, a resident of West Bengal.
They were arrested on August 23, the Cyberabad Police said in a release.
According to the police, the complainant was contacted by one Ashish Patel, who posed himself as an 'Accounts Officer' with Reserve Bank of India.

"The accused then asked the victim to deposit amount for claiming the lottery prize and gave him different bank account numbers. As per the instructions, the victim deposited Rs 21.95 lakh for claiming the lottery prize. However, as he failed to receive any money, he realised that he was cheated, and subsequently approached the police," the release said.

Probing the details of bank accounts and the call data records, the Cyberabad Police went to Delhi on a specific information and arrested the four.
It also came to fore that Nagesia had posed as the RBI officer.
The four were brought here on a transit remand and produced before a court at Miyapur, which remanded them to judicial custody.