A Nigerian fraudster, Chinonso Roy Akata, has been arrested by the Faridabad Police in India, alongside four persons, for allegedly duping people after befriending them on social networking sites.

Akataa who lives in Delhi’s Tuglakabad, was arrested alongside his Indian girlfriend, Sangeeta, and other accomplices, Ajay Kumar of Bihar, a resident of Delhi’s Jasola, and Atif Ali of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, also a resident of Delhi.

According to the police report, the suspects would behttps://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/gurugram-news/faridabad-nigerian-among-four-arrested-for-duping-people-online-101638124342435.htmlfriend people on Facebook and then convince them to transfer money on the pretext of sending them costly gifts and foreign currency.

According to the Faridabad Police, they received a complaint from a 28-year-old engineer working at a private company in the city alleging that he was duped of ₹5.78 lakh by a woman who befriended him online in October.

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Narender Kadiyan, the Faridabad Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Crime, said Akata, with the help of his live-in- lover formed a gang and started duping people after creating fake profiles.

“Akata and Sangeeta created fake social media profiles and befriended people by posing as women. They would tell the victims that they are visiting India along with their siblings to meet them to finalise the wedding.

“Later, the victims used to receive calls from a man posing as a customs officer who would inform them that the duo were caught with valuables worth several lakhs of rupees and they have to pay custom duty for their release,” Kadiyan said.

The Deputy Commissioner said that Akata who come to India on a student visa which had expired six months ago and he was staying in the country illegally.

Basant Kumar, Station House Officer (SHO) of Faridabad Cyber Police Station, said that the suspects used to tell victims that they would get precious gifts as a token of friendship or would propose marriage to them.

The SHO said that Ajay would provide Sangeeta and Akata SIM cards to make calls to dupe people, and Ali opened accounts for them to transfer money.

“All the suspects were taken on seven-day police remand on Sunday after being produced before the court,” he said.

After an investigation by the cyber cell, an FIR was registered on Sunday at Faridabad cyber police station.

“Our cyber police team put the suspects’ numbers on surveillance and their locations were traced, following which they were arrested,” said SHO Kumar.