Photo: Three Nigerian men, woman arrested in India for duping people through fake lottery

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Officers of the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch have arrested three Nigerian nationals and a local woman for duping people to the tune of over one crore rupees in fake lottery schemes.

The accused have been identified as Nigerian IT engineer, Suleiman Lawal (62) alias Benjamin, his Indian wife Bandana Chhetri alias Niki Anjali Gupta (43) Ugochukwu Usifo alias Brown Bruno (32), and Ichaba Lucky Igele (41)

The accused used to send text messages and e-mails to the unsuspecting victims informing them that they had won huge amounts in lottery schemes.

"The gang would cheat people by sending them fake lottery messages and e-mails. Names of companies like Coca-Cola, Samsung, Toyota, Ford, Chevrolet, International Monetary Fund and the UN were used as well to lure people," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) G Ramgopal Naik.Through these organisations, police said, the gang would tell people that they had won a lottery worth a million dollars.

The police received a complaint from a farmer, Sardar Kamaljeet Singh of Punjab, who told them that he was cheated of a sum of one a half crore rupees by Nigerians. He added that an Indian woman was calling him, demanding an additional Rs 45 lakhs, claiming that they needed to bribe police officials with this money in order to get his winnings cleared. The complainant was called to Delhi by the accused to pay the last instalment.

On June 23, a trap was lad by the Crime Branch sleuths at a bus stand in south Delhi's Malviya Nagar and two of the accused were arrested. Four mobile phones, fake US dollars, three laptops ans passports were seized from their possession. Two more arrest, including that of the Indian woman, were made subsequently.

Benjamin told the police that his visa expired in February 2014 but he continued staying in India illegally. In order to earn quick bucks he contacted his Nigerian counterparts in Delhi. Since Brown Bruno was an IT expert he took the data of clients and sent bulk messages and emails to lure them on the pretext of lottery amount from Coca-Cola, Samsung, International Monetary Fund, and the UN.
The gang members also spoke to the alleged targets in the voice of a woman using a software. They then sent messages to many people and later sent them fake documents related to the lottery from the Directorate of Income Tax, Monetary Fund, RBI, UN on the pretext that they had won a million US dollars.

The Nigerian High Commission has been informed of the arrests.