NEW DELHI: The next time you receive an SMS or email informing you that you have been chosen by Libyan premier Muamar Gaddafi to partake of a share of his riches, or that you have won millions of dollars/pounds in a lucky draw held by a cola giant, ignore it completely. For years, the city police have had to deal with a slew of rackets that when investigated always have a Nigerian link. But the latest racket has left even the cops dumbfounded. To give it a stamp of authenticity, fraudsters have set up a sham RBI website that shows money actually being deposited into the 'winners' account. A Nigerian national, Nosakhare Edwin, has been arrested for running such a racket and conning people to the tune of Rs 1 crore. The accused, who was living in New Delhi's Safdarjung Enclave, had opened five accounts with a private bank. "We have asked for detailed statements of these accounts from the bank, as all details and papers submitted so far were found to be forged," said DCP (crime) Ashok Chand. The crime branch was alerted after one Surender Kumar received an SMS on April 20 from an unidentified number informing him that he had won a lottery and the prize amounted to about Rs 2.86 crore. "The SMS also demanded he submit his bank account details, on a cola major's fake e-mail ID, to claim the prize. Accordingly, Kumar emailed his particulars and ID proof to claim the winning amount," said additional DCP (crime) Sanjay Bhatia. On May 3, Surender received another e-mail, informing him that his prize money was being sent by demand draft and that a Nigerian diplomat named Edward William (Nosakhare) would contact him regarding a parcel containing a demand draft, a laptop and a cellphone. Edward contacted him on May 16 and asked him to deposit Rs 18,700 in a bank account for customs clearance. Two weeks later, the victim received a call from an Indian woman, who identified herself as a RBI representative. She directed him to deposit Rs 49,000 more as a transaction tax. "After depositing the said amount, Surender again received an e-mail that had the url of the fake RBI website (rbinet.co.cc). There, he saw that the money had been deposited into his account, but the transaction was only 98% complete and that he was required to deposit more money," said Bhatia. Surender deposited Rs 2,75,000 to complete the transaction and another Rs 17,75,600 towards taxes. Again, he received an email, asking him to deposit Rs 8,95,000 more. "As Surender had already borrowed a lot of money, he couldn't pay such a big sum. So, he requested Edward to meet him. They met on May 27 at Chanakyapuri and Surender paid Rs 3 lakh more. The same day, he received another email, asking for Rs 5,95,000. He finally smelled a rat and contacted the cops," said Chand. Police arrested Edward when he came to meet Surender on July 2. During interrogation, he said that he and a friend had duped others too.
TOI
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