Cyber offenders dupe asst professor

The arrested include two Nigerians and a Manipuri; the accused promised her an opportunity to take part in an international conference at London

Hyderabad: A woman assistant professor of the Agricultural Research Station in Karimnagar district was cheated by a gang of cyber offenders, including two Nigerians, to the tune of Rs 2.82 lakh on pretext of taking her to an international conference at a university in London.

According to police, the victim, working in Agricultural Research Station belonging to Professor Jayashankar Agricultural University as assistant professor,

lodged a complaint stating that some strangers had collected Rs 2.82 lakh from her and cheated her on the pretext of providing her an opportunity to participate in an international conference at London.

During investigation, it was leant that the accused Tommy Mack, 28, student at CCTR in New Delhi and native of Kwara village in Nigeria, Marvellous Mezre Okafor, 24,

textile businessman from Nigeria and residing in New Delhi and Henkhochon Haokip, 25, student from New Delhi and native of Manipur along with absconding Azim Khan, hatched a plan to earn easy money by cheating innocent people.

Subsequently, they sent mails to the agricultural universities across the country stating that ‘Third International Conference on Water Resources,

Energy and Climate Changes’ would be held in London and requested the interested candidates to participate in the seminar.

Assuming it as genuine mail, the college at Karimnagar circulated the info.With an interest to participate in the conference, the victim sent her resume to the accused and received a reply of approval to participate in the conference, and deliver her presentation at Royal Crown Hotel in London.

As the information regarding the conference was received through the university, the victim obtained permission from the Director of International Programme to attending the conference.

Initially, the accused asked the victim to deposit Rs 33,000 towards hotel expenditure and then they demanded Rs 52,496 towards security deposit telling her that many Asian origin enthusiasts misused the opportunities, and they again demanded Rs 43,657 towards one way air ticket and promised a return ticket from London to Hyderabad.

They asked her to deposit Rs 61,211 towards health insurance, Rs 28,600 towards paper publication, Rs 20,000 towards paper presentation, Rs 35,488 for emergency visa in the bank accounts provided by the accused. She paid the entire amount.

When the accused persons pressurised her to deposit Rs 96,000 to convert her economy ticket to first class, the victim refused to pay and approached the cyber crime police in Hyderabad.

Upon tracing the IP addresses of the emails received, the accused persons were arrested in Delhi and brought to city on PT warrant, the police said.

Three laptops, 13 mobile phones, one bike, 17 debit cards and driving licence of the accused Haokip were seized. Speaking to media during a conference on Monday, Additional Commissioner (Crimes and SIT) Swati Lakra said,

“We appeal the institutions and the citizens not to deposit money online in the bank accounts given by the anonymous persons and inform the cyber crime police if any person is trying to cheat through online means.”