Rita Odafe
On Thursday, March 23, 2023, the Cyber Crime Wing of Greater Chennai Police in Tamil Nadu, India, arrested four Nigerian nationals who had allegedly been cheating businessmen in the city and elsewhere in the state by promising good returns on their investments. The suspects, Okories Godswill Sainasa, 32, Uche John Imeka, 47, Godwin Immanuel, 32, and Eposie Uchenna Stanley, 32, were operating in Kharghar, a suburb of Navi Mumbai.
The police said that the gang had posed as a white woman named Nora Morrison from Canada on WhatsApp status and contacted a businessman from Kolathur. She had claimed to be the Chief Executive Officer of a Canadian pharmaceutical firm and offered good commission for supplying herbal oil. After the victim made online transfers in December 2022 for ₹33 lakh to the account mentioned by the fraudsters, he never received any commission as promised and lost his money.
The police then conducted a 10-day investigation with the help of Navi Mumbai police and searched the house of suspects in Kharghar police station limits before arresting the four suspects. The officer explained that the gang had four teams posing as executives, purchase managers, suppliers and quality control, all of whom were Nigerian nationals operating from a home in Navi Mumbai. They mainly targeted people in import-export business who had registered their details on business portals and social media platforms.
