Nigerian arrested for duping woman on matrimonial site on pretext of ‘gift delivery'
The Ballabgarh cyber police on Wednesday arrested Musa Ali, a resident of Ikeja in Lagos, Nigeria, from Mehrauli in Delhi in connection with a matrimonial site fraud case, in which the woman was duped of Rs 1.36 lakh.
During questioning, it was revealed that Ali's accomplice used the matrimonial site's application to engage victims, lure them into trusting him, and convince them to transfer money to designated accounts. Ali would then withdraw the funds from ATMs and pass them to the accomplice, who is yet to be arrested.
'The accomplice would pick up any random social media profile of women and start conversations with them,' an officer said.
A police spokesperson said that the complainant, a resident of Bhagat Colony, alleged that a man contacted her through the matrimony app, claiming to have family in Brazil and residing in Germany. Soon after, their conversations moved to WhatsApp, where he claimed he would soon relocate to India with his family.
Police said that on April 9, the accomplice informed her that he was sending a courier containing jewellery, US dollars, and clothes as gifts. He also shared photos, videos of the courier, as well as a tracking link. On April 11, the complainant allegedly received a call from a woman claiming to be from the Customs Office, stating that a courier – carrying clothes and jewellery – had arrived in her name and it required a tax payment of Rs 37,500, failing which, it would be seized.
The tracking link showed the courier at Delhi Airport's Customs Office, lending it more credence and prompting the woman to transfer the amount to a bank account provided by the accused.
Police claimed that soon after, another call informed her that the courier also contained a large amount of US dollars, and that would require an additional payment Rs 98,700. She went on to pay this amount as well. However, no courier was delivered to her.
Following this, the victim filed a complaint on April 18 with Ballabgarh Cyber police station.
According to the police, Ali has been residing in India since November 2022. He was on Thursday produced before a court, which sent him to judicial custody.
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