2 Nigerians Held For Duping Hyderabad Woman Of Rs 3.5 Lakh

Hyderabad: Two Nigerians and their accomplice were held in Bengaluru on Sunday for duping a city woman of Rs 3.5 lakh by luring her with a gift packet of USD 5 lakh. The accused are - Simon Ebuka Umebee, Okonkwo Kenneth Chigbo of Nigeria, and Changkhumla, their accomplice, who hails from Nagaland.

The trio have been produced before a Miyapur court on Monday and remanded to judicial custody.

The victim hailing from LB Nagar, received a Facebook friend request in June this year from Pradeep Benjamin, claiming to be US citizen. Simon created a Facebook account posing as Pradeep and befriended the woman. After few days, they exchanged their WhatsApp numbers and began talking over WhatsApp calls. Later, in September he took her details to send her a gift a pack.

Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat said that, "After two days, the woman received a call from a lady who introduced herself as a Customs officer and inquired whether she is expecting any parcel from US. The Customs officer further informed the woman that the 'parcel' contains a cheque of USD 5 lakh, diamond jewellery, iPhone, laptop, and other gift items. The fraudsters sent emails to the victim under the guise of Customs department and asked her to pay charges towards customs clearance."

Believing them, the victim deposited Rs 3.5 lakh in the bank account numbers provided by them, but she got suspicious after she didn’t receive the parcel and demanded additional amount.

The trio were arrested by tracking their cell phones, bank account and were held from Central Excise Layout area in Bengaluru. Two laptops, nine cell phones, two tola gold, four wrist watches, a Toyota Corolla car have been seized by the police.

Police said that the two Nigerians came to Delhi in 2013 on a two-month business visa and after its expiry they created a fake Indian visa.