The North Region cyber police in Kandivali East have arrested three persons, including two foreign nationals, in connection with two cyber fraud cases. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act for cheating. In the two cases, the victims were lured with gifts sent from foreign countries and were asked to pay the ‘customs fee’ to claim them at the airport.
In one of the cases, the police have arrested a Nigerian national, Hamed Sora alias Eric alias Chris, 28, and Rubini Gunshekharan, 24, an Indian. The police have seized 13 mobile phones, 15 SIM cards, two laptops and seven debit cards of several banks, and recovered Rs 8,73,043 from the bank account of the accused.
According to police sources, the woman complainant in this case was befriended in March on a social media networking site by Sora and Gunshekharan. Through a fake account in the name of an Australian national, Dr Colton Ryland Mosley, the two said they were sending a gift worth 40,000 Euros. Later, they claimed that the gift was struck at the customs department at Delhi airport, asking the complainant to pay various charges like customs duty, income tax and foreign exchange to the tune of Rs 18.80 lakh.
In another case, a person was duped on a different social media platform using the same modus operandi between February 10 and February 18. The accused, later identified as a foreign national Godwin EJ, had befriended the complainant posing as Frank Wilson from London and asked her to pay various charges to claim the gift sent by him.
Police officials said Godwin cheated the victim to the tune of Rs 2,91,400 and was later arrested from New Delhi. The police seized 17 ATM cards, one pen drive, two passbooks, five cheque books, four mobile phones, two laptops and one tablet from him.
Amid the alarming rise in the number of cyber frauds recorded, the cyber police have appealed to the citizens to not accept friend/follow requests from any unknown person, not to pay any customs duty for any friend to claim any gifts sent and not to fall prey to any such fraud techniques. If any person is trying to cheat you using this modus operandi, the police have asked citizens to come forward and report the matter at the nearest police station.
