The Greater Chennai Police Department in Tamil Nadu, India, has arrested a gang of Nigerian nationals who allegedly defrauded many businessmen in the city and elsewhere in the state by promising high returns on investment.
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The police arrested the four suspects, who were operating in Kharghar, a suburb of Navi Mumbai and brought them to Chennai on Thursday, March 23, 2023.
Okories Godswill Sainasa, 32, Uche John Imeka, 47, Godwin Immanuel, 32, and Eposie Uchenna Stanley, 32, worked in groups and contacted the businessmen first through LinkedIn, according to the police.
One of the teams approached the victim, a businessman from Kolathur, with a fake profile picture of a white woman named Nora Morrison from Canada on WhatsApp status.
She claimed to be the CEO of a Canadian pharmaceutical company and offered a high commission for supplying herbal oil. Then the others got in touch with her.
The businessman made online transfers in December 2022 for ₹33 lakh to the account mentioned by fraudsters towards procuring oil from Delhi and supplying it to Canada. He did not receive the promised commission and lost his money because the business promoters went silent.
Following a complaint, a special police team led by Cyber Crime Wing inspector T. Vinodhkumar examined call records, emails, and other electronic communications and tracked down the suspects in the Mumbai area.
“Our team conducted an investigation for 10 days with the assistance of Navi Mumbai police and searched the suspects’ homes in the Kharghar police station limits, arresting four of them,” Mr. Vinodh Kumar said.
The officer explained that the gang had four teams posing as executives, purchase managers, suppliers, and quality control. In reality, all teams were Nigerian nationals operating from a home in Navi Mumbai. They never made video calls or voice calls to victims in Chennai.
They mainly targeted people in import-export business and who had registered their details on business portals and social media platforms, he added.
