At least seven people from Ghana and Nigeria are going to court in India because they are accused of tricking over 350 people out of more than $94,000! This information comes from the Punjab State Police.
The suspects are all men between the ages of 25 and 35. They were caught by the Mohali Cyber Crime Cell during a special operation that took down a big online scam group.
According to a report from The Indian Express, these scammers were working from a rented apartment in Noida. They set up a fake call center to pull off their tricks.
When the police raided their place, they found a lot of stuff! They seized 79 smartphones, four laptops (including two fancy Apple MacBooks), 99 SIM cards from both India and other countries, and papers for 31 fake bank accounts.
The total value of everything they took is about 30 lakh Rupees, and the money that the scammers moved around is around 15 crore, which is more than $94,000!
Senior Superintendent of Police Harmandeep Singh Hans explained what the scammers did:
“The suspects used fake profiles on social media to befriend people from India and other countries. They promised them expensive gifts from abroad but then claimed that customs were holding the packages. They asked for money to clear the parcels, pretending it was for fees or taxes. Our team used advanced technology and clever strategies to catch them.”
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rupinderdeep Kaur Sohi, who led the operation, added more details:
“The house they used was rented by a Nigerian woman, but we don’t know where she is now. The suspects also opened bank accounts in private banks, and we are looking into whose names are on those accounts and how they got the SIM cards.”
It turns out that these scammers didn’t just target people in India. They also tricked other Nigerians by offering them fake job opportunities in India!
The suspects have already been to court in Mohali and will stay in police custody for two days while the investigation continues.
This case comes right after another one where the Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau found Nigerian nationals involved in drug trafficking. Investigators discovered that they were using fake identities, expired visas, and even fake marriages to carry out their illegal activities.