Hyderabad: Nigerian held for cheating

Rachakonda: The cybercrime wing of Rachakonda police on Monday brought a Nigerian national from Delhi to the City on prisoner transit warrant for allegedly cheating people on the pretext of sending them gifts. The accused was identified as Albert Emeka Christopher, who was living in Uttam Nagar, in West Delhi. The police seized five mobile phones, 13 cheque books, nine debit cards and a Republic of Nigeria passport from his possession.

According to the police, Albert, came to India in 2020 on a business visa. He started a cloth business at Uttam Nagar. He married to Roopa Hanchinmani from Karnataka. Later, he also came to know that some of his Nigerian friends were committing cyber frauds and earning huge money. Albert also decided to commit similar offences. He created fake profiles on social networking websites and befriended people. The accused would inform his friends that he is working in a reputed company in foreign countries and would sent them costly gifts.

However, after a few days he would trap victims by saying that he is from the Customs department and the gifts need clearance. With this modus operandi, he cheated gullible people, demanding them to deposit money in various bank accounts citing courier, customs, and foreign exchange charges.

In August 2020, he befriended Pasham Shiva Kumar of Choutuppal through WhatsApp. Albert told Pasham he was sending a parcel with valuable items like iPhone and laptop. He called Kumar from a different number and impersonated a Customs officer, asking him to deposit money for courier charges to deliver the parcel. The victim transferred Rs.1.62 lakh to the accounts provided by the accused.

In the same month Albert created a fake Instagram account, 'rose_willson110', and befriended Indrapally Pranitha of Ibrahimpatnam. He introduced himself as a woman, Rose Willson, from Mexico. The two started chatting. Albert asked Pranitha to pray for his promotion and later told her that her prayers had been answered and he had been promoted. He said he wanted to send her some gifts and 30,000 pounds. The woman believed him. Later, she received a call from a Customs official who asked her to transfer Rs.329,700, which she did and was cheated.

Based on complaints filed by the victims, the department began investigation. Albert was arrested from Delhi and brought to Hyderabad and remanded in judicial custody, the police said.