Nigerian duo held for duping company staff of Rs 10 lakh after impersonating directors on WhatsApp in Gurgaon
Two Nigerian nationals were arrested in Gurugram for cheating company employees of Rs 10 lakh by posing as directors on WhatsApp. Police seized multiple devices and found that the bank account used had previous fraud complaints.
Two Nigerian nationals have been arrested for allegedly siphoning off nearly Rs 10 lakh from employees of a private company by posing as senior directors in Haryana's Gurgaon. The Cyber Crime East police station made the arrests on January 31 after tracking the suspects through detailed technical surveillance. According to police officials, the accused, identified as Ojo Uyiosa and James, contacted company staff via WhatsApp while pretending to be top management. They allegedly gained the trust of employees and convinced them to transfer money to their bank account. Investigators recovered two mobile phones and three SIM cards from the duo, as per news agency PTI.
Visa backgrounds and previous complaints surface
Police revealed that Uyiosa entered India in 2014 on a student visa, while James arrived much later in 2023 on a tourist visa. During questioning, Uyiosa confessed that they had cheated employees of around Rs 10 lakh, all routed through a Bandhan Bank account. Officers also confirmed that two earlier cyber fraud complaints had already been registered against the same account.
Court custody and ongoing probe
The accused were produced before a city court on Monday and have been remanded to three days of police custody. Authorities said that further investigation is ongoing and more victims may surface as the probe expands.
CBI's crackdown on cybercriminal
It is to be noted here that the CBI has arrested an alleged cybercriminal after conducting a massive countrywide search operation across 35 locations as part of a sweeping multinational crackdown on cyber-enabled financial crimes, officials said. Christened Operation CyStrike, the crackdown was launched on January 30 in coordination with law-enforcement agencies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Ireland and Singapore. The CBI officers searched 35 locations across 10 states, including Delhi, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Telangana and West Bengal. The raids disrupted multiple cybercrime networks based in India that targeted victims in the United States, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Ireland, Singapore, and India, officials added.
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