Hyderabad, December 29: Three Africans were caught by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials on Sunday for allegedly duping a person of Rs15 lakh, by promising to deliver a lottery worth Rs 100 crore at New Delhi.
CID officials said Andrew, Martin and Dikite were caught for committing cyber fraud. The accused belong to Nigeria, South Africa and Ivory Coast.
On December 21, one Mehata lodged a complaint at the CID cyber cell that he had received an e-mail from the Microsoft company informing he won a lottery of Rs 100 crore.
He was first asked to deposit Rs 15 lakh in a specified bank amount. Expecting to get several crores in return, Mehata deposited the said amount. But subsequently he realised he was duped.
“Using some available leads, we found the accused were residing in New Delhi.
We then managed to zero in on the three Africans,’’ a CID official told Express. Police said all three Africans tried to flee but they were chased down and caught.
However, police said they could not recover the Rs 15 lakh fraudulently collected by the accused.
“In Nigerian fraud cases, it is difficult to recover the lost money since the amount is diverted to different countries through hawala. We are still investigating and on further questioning the accused there is a chance more details might emerge,’’ a police official said. Police also recovered laptops, books and other materials.
During the preliminary inquiry, the accused said they came to India to do apparel business. The accused are expected to be brought to Hyderabad from New Delhi on Tuesday.
–Agencies