Hyderabad police crack 'Nigerian fraud', one arrested

Hyderabad, April 30 (IANS):

Cyber crime sleuths here Friday claimed to have cracked a case of 'Nigerian fraud' with the arrest of one person in Maharashtra for duping a resident of Hyderabad.

Alok Raj Saxena, a resident of Hussaini Alam in the Old City of Hyderabad, was duped to the tune of Rs.10.7 lakh by internet fraudsters on the pretext of providing a job in the Emirates Airlines in Britain. Rahul Koshte was arrested in Badlapur in Thane district of Maharashtra two days ago and remanded to judicial custody. Three others, including two residents of Mumbai and a Nigerian, are absconding. 'Nigerian fraud' is referred to the online fraud wherein internet fraudsters lure people through promises of jobs and claims of winning lotteries. Crime Investigation Department (CID) officials said the amount which the complainant sent was traced to three ICICI bank accounts of Mumbai. One of the accounts was in the name of Dyaneswar Bhimrao Thupe. He was lured with a promise of commission by Rahus Koshti, who had taken 25 cheques and an ICICI ATM card from Thupe and made transactions on his behalf. Two other accused, Sanjeev Bose and Om Chand Choudhary, had contacts with Nigerian fraudsters, and they used Thupe's current account to receive the money. The police had detected a similar fraud early this year and arrested a travel agent from Delhi, Mukesh Munjal, for duping a priest to the tune of Rs.43.26 lakh. The money sent by Anthony Sneharaj, a priest from Vijayawada, was deposited into Mukesh's bank account. Mukesh was working for his Nigerian bosses for commission. The priest was lured by Ben Jean James, who claimed herself to be a Catholic widow suffering from cancer. Ben Jean James said her husband left $2.8 million, which she intended to donate for the service of orphans and the less privileged. Priest, who took interest in running the orphanage, was asked to send money to claim the entire amount.