Nigerian, 3 others held for Rs 23 lakh fraud

A Nigerian and three others have been arrested by the local crime branch (LCB), Thane Rural for cheating a local of nearly Rs 23 lakh in an online scam. The Nigerian offered a “dealership” of “special seeds” grown only in Nigeria, which he claimed to have medicinal benefits in curing cough, and even AIDS.

The seeds were, however, nothing but ‘bitter kola’ (botanical name: garcinia kola) seeds which is grown abundantly in Western and Central Africa. Anil Mathur, a resident of Naya Nagar, Mira Road came in contact with the Nigerian, identified as Uzoma Eleazar on social media and developed a friendship. Mr Mathur was offered of a dealership of seeds that could be used to produce expensive medicines in Nigeria by Eleazar.

The victim fell for the trap and lost nearly Rs 23 lakh after being convinced by Eleazar about profits. So much so, Eleazar sold 400-gram packets of the seeds for more than '1 lakh each, which in Nigeria is sold at Rs 1,000 per kg, said API Prafull Wagh, LCB, Thane Rural, to whom Mathur complained.

We have arrested Eleazar and his Indian agents Taufiq Hussain (47), Fazal Ahmed Syed (28) and Yogesh Kumar Patil (31), residents of Navi Mumbai, who were remanded in police custody till July 27 after they were produced before the Thane court, said API Wagh.

“We have also seized around 10 mobile hand sets which were used to call Mathur, three laptops, Rs 4.2 lakh cash, and a host of packets containing the seeds. More arrests will be made as the fraudsters have conned several people all over Maharashtra and other states in online scams. We have appealed to the victims to come forward and register complaints against the four,” said API Wagh.