Manipuri woman along with Nigerian nationals arrested by cyber crime police in Chennai

Three people were arrested by the City Cyber Crime Police Wing (East Zone) of the Chennai Police—two Nigerian men and a Manipuri woman—after they allegedly staged a cyber-scam out of Faridabad, Haryana and defrauded a resident of Ayanavaram out of Rs 1.2 lakhs. 

Hugo Francisco (40), Duru Clinton (27), and a woman from Manipur named Tabitha Ana (32) were the people that were arrested. 

It is to be mentioned here that, in May 2023, the gang used Facebook to contact the guy under the guise of a London-based businesswoman. 

Following their friendship, the "businesswoman" informed the man that she had sent him a gift. 

Also Read: Manipur: Rs 1.5 crore looted from bank in Churachandpur district

Subsequently, the man received a call from someone claiming to be from the Customs department asking him to pay customs taxes in order to receive the gift. Believing this, he sent Rs 1.2 lakh in instalments. 

The man understood he was being duped when they pushed on additional money and when he questioned the "businesswoman," they abruptly ended their "operation." It was then that he realised what had happened. His complaint led to the registration of a case. 

The group's phone numbers, email addresses, and IP (Internet Protocol) addresses were gathered by the police, who then dispatched a squad to Faridabad, Haryana, where an ATM had been used to take the funds transmitted from the victim's account. 

After staying there for a few days, a police squad found the suspect on July 8. 

After obtaining a transit warrant, he was taken to Chennai, produced before a magistrate, and remanded to judicial custody. All the accused were hauled before a court there. 

Paulinus Chiliko and Cletus Ikechukwu, two Nigerian citizens, were convicted of the same act two months before and given five-year sentences by a Chennai court. 

They were based in Delhi and were convicted of defrauding a woman from Chennai out of more than Rs 4.5 lakh by getting in touch with her through a matrimonial website while posing as a doctor from the Netherlands.