Man held for duping women on pretext of getting them married to NRI: Police

New Delhi: A man was arrested for allegedly cheating a woman with the help of a Nigerian national who approached women as an NRI widower to marry them and then duped them of money, police said on Monday. The accused named Mohammad Islam was arrested on September 9 from Haldwani, Nanital, they said.

He sold his bank account for Rs 5,000 to his friend Umar. The duo along with the Nigerian national used to cheat victims. The Nigerian used to appear like a well-settled widow NRI looking for a match in India. He targeted ladies and got money transferred from their bank accounts fraudulently, police said. According to police, the matter came to light after a woman filed a complaint against the gang stating that she had added a UK-based person named Limpu Mushkewa as an Instagram friend and started chatting with him daily. Some days later, Mushkewa told her that his Whatsapp was hacked. Two days later, she got a call from a woman impersonating an official of the External Ministry who told her that her private chats with Mushkewa have been leaked and that in order to delete those, she would need to pay Rs 3,55,000. The lady paid them Rs 3,55,000. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chandan Chowdhary said, "During investigation, it was revealed that a Nigerian national named Chris Uzoma was chatting with the complainant. He induced the victim and got the money transferred. A raid was conducted but he was found absconding."

The probe revealed that the complainant had transferred Rs 2,55,000 to the HDFC bank account of Mohammad Islam and Rs 1,00,000 to the Canara Bank account of Sajid.