Nigerian man allegedly dupes Indian woman of N12m after posing as widowed California-based doctor

Nigerian man identified as Ibrahim Adam, has been arrested in India for allegedly duping a 30-year-old woman of Rs 23 lakh (N12m) on a matrimonial site after introducing himself as a paediatrician settled in the United States.

The suspect, a resident of Noida, UP, was arrested by the cybercrime police in Ahmedabad, on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, following mobile and technical surveillance.

Assistant commissioner of police, cybercrime, J M Yadav, said the accused got in touch with the Ahmedabad woman after she posted her profile on a matrimonial site.

A complaint was lodged alleging cheating, breach of trust and forgery and a team of 11 headed by police inspector H N Patel was formed for investigation.

The complainant stated that she had registered on a matrimonial website on January 3. She then got a call from a man who identified himself as Dr Yogendra Yadav and said that he lived in California.

Yadav told her he was a paediatrician and his parents were from Chennai. He said his parents had died and he was staying with his grandmother. He also said that his wife had died five years ago and he had a daughter from his first marriage.

Yadav told the complainant that he wanted to settle in India and would hence come to the country after settling his financial affairs in California. The two then began talking.

Yadav then told the woman he would come to India with the equivalent of Rs 23 crore in cash. Later, an ‘immigration officer’ named Sajiya phoned the victim, telling her that Yadav had come to India with crores in cash.

She demanded Rs 8.5 lakh to release the money. The victim transferred the money via online payment.

The victim then received another call demanding Rs 6.5 lakh, which she also transferred. In all, the complainant paid Rs 23.3 lakh.

The victim was also sent a fake letter from the ‘foreign remittance department of the Reserve Bank of India’.

Adam was arrested from Noida after the money trail was analyzed.

During his interrogation, they got information on the other accused as well.