Nigerian man arrested in India for duping a woman by posing as prospective groom on matrimonial site

A 36-year-old Nigerian national and his

accomplice, were arrested on Monday, March

20, from Sriniwaspuri in Delhi for cheating a

woman of over Rs 9 lakh.



Hilary Nnamdi Okoli and 34-year-old Reena

Basumatari were arraigned in a Gurgaon court

on Tuesday and taken on four days' police

custody.



According to Times Of India, in the first week

of February, Mr Okoli met Pooja (name

changed), an engineer working with a

reputable company in DLF-3, on a matrimonial

site where he posed as a prospective groom.

He introduced himself as Jeff Dennis, an

engineer settled in the UK.



As Pooja found Okoli's 'profile' interesting,

they exchanged phone numbers. Soon they

started interacting through WhatsApp calls.

Both shared information about their family

background. She asked Okoli to visit India and

meet her parents, to which he gave his

consent.



On February 28, Pooja received a call from

Okoli informing her that he had reached

Mumbai. Minutes later, Pooja's phone rang

and this time it was from a man, who claimed

to be from the customs department,

informing Pooja that Okoli had been detained

as he was carrying 45,000 pounds (Rs 37 lakh

approx) in cash. He asked her to deposit Rs

42,000 as penalty after which Okoli would be

released and given 5% of the total amount in

cash, the rest would be credited to her bank

acccounts.



After depositing the amount, Pooja received

another call informing her that as Okoli was

given 5% of the amount in cash he told them

that he needed more cash as he wanted to buy

gifts and jewellery for Pooja. She asked the

'official' for a solution that would ensure that

Okoli got more cash in hand. Pooja ended up

depositing Rs 9,45,700 through 12 online

transactions into 10 different accounts.

"After depositing Rs 9,45,700, I

received a mail from

reservebankindia111111@gmail.com

that the money (pending amount from

Rs 36,59,884) will be credit to my

account only after I upgrade my

account, for which I was asked to

deposit Rs 32,25,000. I got suspicious

and contacted my bank. The branch

manager informed me that I had been

duped. When I tried calling Jeff, his

phone was switched off," Pooja said.



An FIR under sections 420 (cheating) of

the IPC and Section 66-D of IT act was

registered against the accused at the

City police station and the case was

assigned to the cyber crime cell.







Source: Times of India