Nigerian arrested in India for allegedly defrauding women on dating app.

A Nigerian, alongside three Indians, has been arrested in India for allegedly scamming multiple Indian women on matrimonial applications, the Indian police said on Thursday.

The investigators said the suspects disguised as doctors, engineers and information technology experts to contact with women on different matrimonial apps and collected money from them on the pretext of clearing customs duties for presents.

The accused were named as Delhi residents Aman Kumar (26), Rahul Singh (28), and Santosh Kumar (38), as well as Chibaka alias Tall Issa of Nigeria.

The Gurugram police’s cybercrime unit revealed that it had taken 25 mobile phones, 65 ATM cards, 34 checkbooks, and 12 passbooks from the scammers.

According to Hindustantimes.com, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber) Priyanshu Diwan, the suspects recently formed a gang and were working out of Delhi.

According to him, “The Nigerian was the kingpin of the gang and met the other suspects in Laxmi Nagar area of Delhi. They used to scan profiles of the victims on matrimonial sites and later befriended them on social media such as Instagram and Facebook,” he said.

He described how the offenders were apprehended, saying that the gang members were targeted after a 36-year-old woman complained on March 22 that she had been defrauded of 16 lakh rupees (about N9m).

The woman claimed that on January 26 of this year, she got a friend request from someone on Instagram who identified himself as a doctor from the United Kingdom.

“We exchanged our numbers and started chatting on WhatsApp. The suspect said he would be sending some gold items and £20,000. On January 30, I received a call from a woman who introduced herself as an employee of a courier company in Mumbai and said that gold and foreign currency had arrived in my name,” said Sampa Pal, a resident of DLF Phase-4.

After receiving the victim’s payment of $55,000 as tax, the woman demanded for another deposit of $3,27,920. The suspect once more requested that she deposit 3 lakh followed by 2.98 lakh on February 2. “It didn’t stop there; I deposited a total of 16 lakh within a week and realized I had been duped when they demanded I deposit another 7.26 lakh,” recalled Pal.

Following an investigation, a complaint was filed on February 17 at the Cyber Crime police station under Sections 120 B (conspiracy), 419 (impersonating), and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Criminal Code (IPC), according to the police.

According to Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police for crime, they tracked the suspects’ IP addresses, and on Wednesday night, a team led by Jasvir Singh, station house officer of the Cyber Crime police station, conducted a raid and arrested the suspects from various locations throughout Delhi.

“During questioning, the suspects revealed that the Nigerian man was deported from Mumbai eight years ago, who returned to India on a Schengen visa and another passport. We are still verifying whether his passport is original or forged. He was continuously active in committing matrimonial frauds,” ACP Sangwan said.

The gang allegedly opened more than 100 bank accounts, which they used to transfer money. One of them frequently traveled to a different city to avoid being caught by police, according to authorities, and used to take cash from ATMs in other locations.

According to ACP Sangwan, the suspects had been defrauding women for months under the guise of giving and receiving gifts. “In many instances, the victims received phone calls from Mumbai airport officials informing them that their acquaintance had been arrested for carrying US and British pounds as well as pricey gifts. To “register” the valuables, they were required to pay in lakhs. Afterwards, in order to obtain the gifts and free their buddies, the victims were urged to pay more money, he claimed.