Indian police hunt for Nigerian in N8.06m internet love scam

Indian authorities have begun the hunt for a Nigerian national and four others for allegedly duping a female teacher of Rs 14.25 lakh (about N8, 059, 955.68).

According to reports, the Nigerian had met the teacher on a dating website and pretended to be a potential groom. He masqueraded as a civil engineer from Manchester, the UK, and expressed interest in the woman’s profile. He also started communicating with her on Whatsapp.

Jerry and his accomplices –  Simran Rao, who impersonated as a customs official and three bank account holders Anil Paswan, Ramesh Agarwal and Rakesh Kumar – tricked the teacher into transferring money into various bank accounts in India on the pretext that the customs department had arrested him and seized his luggage and parcel at Delhi airport for not paying customs duty.

The incident occurred between June 12 and June 30.

The woman, who later realised that she was tricked after the suspect continued to make demands for more money, reported the crime to authorities.

Samarth police’s senior inspector Rajendra Mohite said on Friday, “The teacher registered her name on a matrimonial site and Terry expressed interest in her profile and started chatting with her on Whatsapp. After the duo got friendly, Terry promised to visit India on June 22 and meet her in person and initiate talks to marry her at the earliest.”

Narrating the incident in a Times of India report, the woman said: “On June 22, we received a call from Terry that he has reached New Delhi airport but the customs department had seized his luggage and parcel for not paying customs duty. He told us that he had 90,000 pounds with him and he required Indian currency for paying the customs duty.

“We then got a call from Simran who said that Terry was arrested and money was required for paying penalty and conversion charges for releasing him and the goods. We transferred money in three bank accounts via four online transactions.

“We soon realised that they were emotionally black mailing us and asked them to return the money but they failed to do so. They later switched off their cellphones,” she added.