Nigerian creates fake profiles, dupes woman of Rs 2.5 lakh

Hyderabad, Aug 11: A Nigerian man, posing as an American soldier in Afghanistan, has been held by the crime branch of Cyberabad for duping a woman of Rs 2.5 lakh. On Facebook, he opened numerous fake accounts and lured victims by expressing his love for them.

When the acquaintance increased, he would extort money from them in the name of investments. Police found close to 5 lakh phone numbers and over a lakh E-mail Ids of Indians in his mobile phone.

Inspector Md Riyazuddin said that the suspect Omeleze Fred, 35, had created several FB profiles with the photos of handsome white Americans and used them to chat with Indian women.

In a particular case, he trapped a woman from Hyderabad, saying that he wanted to settle with her by investing his savings worth $5 million. Incidentally, on July 8, she received a call from a woman asking her to identify herself as an acquaitance with one Mr Benson (the name used by the Nigerian) . The 'custom department' said that the he was apprehended for bringing USDs, Gold and diamond jewellery. The suspect also rang the victim up, asking her to pay the taxes so that the money and jewellery could be released. The victim transferred Rs 2.5 lakh into his account.

However, later the police revealed that the woman who had called her was an aide of the man and that they both were on a duping spree. Cops further said that the man lived in New Delhi since 2012, without a visa. So, after his original vsa expired, he got fake Indian visa stickers and pasted it on his passport.

OneIndia News