Matrimony gift scam: Chennai biz woman loses Rs 3 cr to Nigerian conmen; 2 held from Delhi
Matrimonial gift scam accused.
CHENNAI: A City businesswoman lost close to Rs 3 crore to a couple of online scammers who posed as customs officers at New Delhi airport and extracted money from her in installments to release a 'gift' sent by the foreigner she met through a dating/matrimonial site, who also happened to be the same conmen.
Two Nigerian nationals were arrested from Delhi by the Chennai Police in connection with the "matrimonial gift scam".
The scam's basis is emotional manipulation wherein swindlers play an elaborate con on the victims after acquainting with them through social media and matrimony websites and usurp money from them.
ATM cards seized from the two accused.
ATM cards seized from them
The con can last a few days to months until the victims realise that they are being swindled and question their 'lover' only to find they were blindsided.
In the recent case, a K K Nagar resident had approached the Cyber crime wing of City police in December 2023.
The woman who is into the pharma business had registered her profile on a matrimonial website and got matched with a person named Alexander Sanchez and they started talking on WhatsApp.
Sanchez had proposed marriage and promised to meet her in Chennai and told her that he had sent valuable gifts to her Chennai home.
The woman had then received a call claiming to be a customs officer from New Delhi, and the 'officer' demanded money to release the gift parcel.
The woman ended up paying Rs 2.87 crore to various bank accounts as told by the fraudster and only after two months she realized that she was being taken for a ride when she could not reach 'Sanchez' too.
Police obtained the bank account details of the accounts to which the woman sent money and found that the account holders are spread across the country and the ATM withdrawals were made in New Delhi.
A special team went to Delhi and after camping there, City police arrested two Nigerian nationals - Augustine Maduabuchi (29) and Chinedu Onyeaobi (36).
After obtaining a transit warrant, the duo were brought to the city and remanded to judicial custody.
