Nigerian Fraudster Arrested In India In Multi Million Lottery Scam

A 36-year-old Nigerian national was arrested for allegedly cheating people of lakhs by making them believe that they have won a lottery organised by RBI.

Franklin Idiumo was apprehended following investigations into complaints of cheating a woman of Rs 22 lakh with a Rs 1.7-lakh lottery fraud, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) B S Jaiswal said. 

The victim approached police on January 12 saying she received a call that she has won a lottery. She was persuaded by the caller to deposit money to claim her prize. 

"She transferred Rs 22,38,980 through installments into different HDFC Bank accounts as asked by the fraudsters. 

During the transaction, she got suspicious and reported it to the bank who froze the accounts in which she deposited the money," Jaiswal said. 

During investigations, the victim informed police two days ago that she received a phone call saying her prize had been sent at her residence via a representative. 

"Idiumo came to her house in Rohini. He was apprehended on the spot along with an electronic safe. On opening the safe, it was found to contain small packets of black papers concealed in white cotton. Idiumo could not produce any valid travel documents," Jaiswal said. 

Idiumo told police that he along with fellow Nigerians cheated people by creating a fake website of RBI and sent text messages to people randomly wherein they stated that their targets had won a large sum of money in a lottery. 

"They used to fool people by giving them black paper and convince them that these were defaced US dollars which can be restored through the use of a special chemical," Jaiswal said.