Three persons, who were allegedly involved in selling of ATM cards and providing bank accounts on forged documents to a group of cheats which duped several people online, have been nabbed from south Delhi's Chhatarpur area, police said today.
The accused, identified as Lalramsanga Buongpui alias John (25), Hari Shanker (21) and Krishan Kumar (22) allegedly sold ATM cards and bank accounts, opened with forged documents, to a group of cheats, headed by a Nigerian national, who further duped several people using those accounts, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said.
The matter came into notice when a Nigerian national, Furtunatus Obinna, was arrested by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police from south Delhi's Gautam Nagar area for duping a retired government school teacher of around Rs 4.85 lakh, on December 16 last year, police said.
They said the complainant had received an e-mail from a person, claiming to be a 25-year-old woman from Sudan, who lost her parents in the riots, leaving behind a big fund of USD 2.7 million. The accused asked for the complainant's help in getting the said funds transferred by allowing her to deposit the same in his account for the time being.
The accused was persuaded to deposit around Rs 4.85 lakh at a mentioned proportion in two separate bank accounts in April and May respectively on the pretext of transfer charges, police said.
When the complainant was asked to deposit another instalment of Rs 8 lakh, he sensed something fishy and informed the police, following which a case of cheating was registered and investigation was taken up, leading to Obinna's arrest, police said.
The Nigerian national told police that he used to purchase bank accounts from agents for anything between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000, police said.
A special team of Delhi police took over the investigation to nab the source of such bank accounts and apprehended the trio on December 31 last year.
During interrogation the accused also confessed of selling such bank accounts to other people as well, police said.
Police have recovered seven ATM cards, two bank passbooks and one cheque book from their possession and investigations are on to nab their other associates, they added.
