A Nigerian citizen residing in Delhi was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police on the charges of cheating over 300 women and deceiving them of crores of rupees by promising them to marry, said officials on Friday, May 27.
The officials stated that the wrongdoer used to lure women via social media and matrimonial sites, where he presented himself as an NRI settled in Canada.
The accused, identified as Garuba Galumje, aged 38, actually from Lagos in Nigeria, was presently staying in the Kishan Garh area of South Delhi and has been caught by officials of the cybercrime police station Noida.
Head of the Noida cyber crime police station, Reeta Yadav, added, “The charge has been arrested in relation to a complaint from a woman who lives in the Meerut district of UP. He claimed that she had registered herself on the Jeevansathi website for marriage. A man approached her via the website and introduced himself as Indo-Canadian NRI, Sanjay Singh.”
Yadav further added that the accused gradually earned her trust and made emotional appeals. He fooled her into transferring 60 lakh in numerous instalments in his different bank accounts before she learned about the fraud.
The police tracked down the culprit from Delhi soon after receiving the complaint.
The official said, during interrogation, they came across several similar cases involving the same man. There are more than 300 women who he had lured via various websites and cheated of crores. He used good-looking pictures of other men and not his own to dupe women on social media and websites.
As per the police, the accused had first arrived in India in February 2019 on a six-month visa in relation to a business related to human hair and readymade clothes.
After that, he again returned to India on March 18 on a medical visa until May 22 but had overstayed while resettling himself many times, added the police.
“Garuba has been transferring the fraud money to his family in Nigeria via international money exchange services,” police said.
During the detention, police retrieved a passport, seven mobile phones, and 15 photocopies of documents, which included forged letters in the names of National Bank of Dubai, Bank of Thailand, Interpol, US Department of State and FBI, officials said.
An FIR has been filed against the accused under the Indian Penal Code 406 (criminal breach of trust), 419 (cheating by impersonation) and Sections 420 (cheating), and under provisions of the Information Technology Act, they added.
