Andhra Pradesh police arrested two Nigerians and an Ugandan woman for allegedly cheating a Guntur-based woman of Rs 4.5 lakh in an online lottery fraud, a police officer said here today.
CID Cyber Crimes Superintendent of Police Kanthi Rana Tata told reporters here that two Nigerian nationals namely Osazee Mike Odion alias Philips and Ossai George Oduagu as well as a Ugandan woman Rose Nakisiti alias Riya Gupta were arrested from Dwaraka in New Delhi on August 31.
He said that Philips, who is the main accused, used to send SMS and emails to people from his cellular phone as well as fictitious e-mail IDs informing them that they won lotteries, awards or prizes, while Ossai assisted him as well as create fake documents like lottery certificates.
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Rose telephonically introduced herself to victims as a Reserve Bank of India officer and induced them to deposit money in bank accounts so that they could claim their fictitious "prize amount", the police official said.
During interrogation, the accused confessed that they committed the offence by sending bulk SMS to people in India stating that they won lotteries, awards or prizes and asked them to send their details for claiming the fictitious "prize amount".
In this particular case, the accused cheated a Guntur based woman claiming that she had won an online lottery and cheated her to the tune of Rs 4,53,950 on the pretext of "processing fee" and "currency conversion charges", the police official said.
The police seized laptops, cellular phones and Internet data cards used in committing the offence, the police officer said.
All three were produced before a court which sent them to judicial remand, the police official said.
