The Delhi police has nabbed three Nigerian nationals accused of masterminding a cyber fraud operation that scammed a local woman of ₹2.62 lakh (N4.9million).
The suspects, believed to be part of an extensive online scam network, also purchased hundreds of bank accounts across various states to facilitate their illicit activities.
It was gathered that the suspects used the accounts to transfer and siphon the money they duped from gullible victims.
The suspects identified as Lezhu John, Gibril Mohammed, and Egboola Ekena were arrested on Friday.
It was learnt that the suspects were tracked down on the basis of bank account transactions and intelligence inputs and arrested in Delhi.
ACP (Cybercrime) M.M. Rajput revealed that the suspects had overstayed their visas in India and engaged in cyber fraud to earn quick money.
“We discovered that the gang possessed details of over 500 bank accounts, which they claimed to have purchased from another group. These accounts were created using either genuine or forged documents,” said a cybercrime official.
According to the police, the gang transferred large sums of money between these accounts to conceal their fraudulent activities.
Investigators are now working to trace the other groups that sold bank account details to the Nigerian gang.
However, the police found hundreds of photographs of men and women stored on the suspects’ mobile phones. These images were used to create fake social media profiles to lure potential victims.
The racket was exposed after a young woman filed a complaint with the Cybercrime Police Station, reporting that she had been defrauded of over ₹2.62 lakh by the gang.