Duo from UP dupes men posing as foreigner women on social media, Nigerian link established

A sibling duo from Uttar Pradesh who cheated men after befriending them on social media with fake profiles of foreigner women has been arrested by the city police and a hunt has been launched for the mastermind behind the crime, a Nigerian national.

The fraudsters Majid Salmani (42) and Shanu (36) of Aligarh were traced following a complaint by a senior citizen from Chennai, who fell prey to their tricks and lost nearly Rs 15 lakh.

The cyber crime police of the Central Crime Branch who arrested the duo said that they established contacts with the victim in the name of Eva Williams claiming that she is from London.

As the victim chatted with them on WhatsApp believing that it was a woman, the so-called Eva Williams suddenly informed the victim one day that she has reached the Chennai to buy a property and that she was detained by customs officials as she has a demand draft for Rs 5 cr.

The fraudsters made him transfer Rs 15 lakh to different bank accounts and disconnected the links with him.

During investigation, police found out the money from the bank accounts concerned were withdrawn at Aligarh. With the call details and CCTV footage, police camped in Aligarh and arrested the suspects.

As many as 10 debit cards, three mobile phones and SIM cards were seized from them. Based on their confession, the room of the main and absconding accused Immanuel, a Nigerian national, was searched from where four laptops, 10 phones, nine SIM cards, Rs 51,000 and WiFi dongle were seized.

The arrested duo were brought to Chennai and remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday. A hunt has been launched for Immanuel.