Thaindian News

Amritsar, Oct 21 (IANS) A Nigerian national has been arrested for duping scores of people in this Punjab city, police said Wednesday.
Innocent Amaechi and his Indian partner Sukanta Goswami were arrested Tuesday after police laid a trap. They were running a fake lottery scheme in Punjab and neighbouring states for many months.

“One of their accomplices in Nigeria sent e-mails and messages on mobiles to people (in India) informing them that they have won lottery worth millions of dollars. They asked the ‘winners’ to submit Rs.4-5 lakhs in a bank account as processing fees,” a police officer said.

“Amaechi and Goswami are based in India. They have accounts in Indian banks and possess PAN (permanent account number) cards. Amaechi also used to contact people on phone and introduced himself as a senior official in the Nigerian government,” he said.

The officer said nearly Rs.1 crore (Rs.10 million) was deposited in their accounts during the last one year.

Rajwinder Singh, a complainant, said: “I got an e-mail, which said I had won a lottery of $5 million (Rs.23 crore). According to their directions, I deposited Rs.425,000 in their bank account but nobody responded thereafter.”

Delhi Police had arrested Amaechi last year in a similar case but after a few weeks he was released on bail.