JOIN USA Nigerian national has been arrested for cheating a retired Banaras Hindu University professor of Rs 25 lakh on the pretext of making him inherit huge wealth in Africa, police said on Saturday.
Peter Uche, 41, was held by the anti-extortion cell of the crime branch following a complaint by Varanasi resident B N Pandey. “Pandey was duped after he got an e-mail from a person claiming to be a Bank of Africa officer,” said Ravindra Singh Yadav, additional commissioner of police (crime).
The email informed him that Pandey is next in kin of a German national who deposited 18 million dollars in the bank. The fraudster claimed that the money could be transferred to Pandey if certain formalities were completed.
“Investigation showed that it is an international gang of cheats who operate from different locations. Each one of them is assigned different roles. Some persons are assigned the task of only making calls to target persons and painting a rosy picture of either winning a lottery or inheriting wealth in some other country,” Yadav added.
Others are given the task of opening various fake accounts. Then the victim is asked to deposit money for paying stamp duties and attorney charges in the given fake accounts. As soon as the money is deposited, it is taken through a series of withdrawals of small amounts by using ATM card the very same day.
For claiming the amount, Pandey was required either to visit the bank or appoint a legal attorney. “The sender of the e-mail also directed Pandey to deposit an amount for obtaining anti-terrorist certificate from the UN, and a no-objection certificate from the RBI,” Yadav said.
Pandey agreed to the appointment of a legal attorney and other formalities to claim the ‘inherited wealth’.