Gideon, a 24-year-old Nigerian man, was arrested in India for duping a woman of Rs 3.25 lakh (over N1.6m) on a matrimonial site after posing as a physiotherapist based in the United States.
On Wednesday, July 20, 2022, the suspect, who currently resides in Greater Noida, was apprehended by the Chandigarh Police Cyber Cell.
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The victim, according to the police, had created a profile on shadi.com. The accused obtained information about her from a matrimonial website, introduced himself as Amit Bedi, and managed to catch her off guard.
Police recovered two mobile phones, including a SIM card, more than 24 cloned bank debit cards, a cloning machine, and three laptops from his Greater Noida home. The accused was remanded in police custody for one day.
According to police, an unknown person from the airport authority called the complainant and informed her that her friend had arrived at Mumbai airport with large amounts of American dollars, and she needed to deposit the tax by September 1, 2021.
According to police, the victim deposited a total of Rs 3.25 lakh from her account.
Inspector Hari Om Sharma, SHO of the Cyber cell police station, stated that the accused is one of the fraudsters involved in duping Indian citizens via social media platforms and matrimonial sites.
“The modus operandi of this case is that the fraudsters create their fake profile on matrimonial sites and show themselves from abroad. They contact people for marriage on matrimonial sites and start chatting through WhatsApp and try to get people to fall in love. After that, they say that they are coming to India to marry, call from an Indian number and claim as staff of the airport authority or income tax department.
Furthermore, they tell the victims that the person is carrying a huge amount of American dollars which comes under the tax department and the tax amount should be paid in Indian currency and demand money. Due to which, the people fall prey to cheaters and transfer the money into a given account. The people are duped through fake accounts on matrimonial sites,” Sharma said.
