A 35-year-old Ghana national was arrested here for allegedly duping men by posing as a woman on social media and befriending them, police said today. The accused, who identified as a foreigner, would ask his victims to pay the shipment charges and customs duties for "gifts" he had sent them, police officials said.
The accused has been identified as Prince Joe, a native of Ghana in West Africa, they said.
The complainant alleged that he came in contact with a woman on Instagram in June.
Posing as a woman, the accused told the victim that he had sent him a birthday gift, a senior police officer said.
On July 9, the victim received a call from an unknown person where the caller informed him that his parcel had arrived and he had to pay Rs 27,300 as shipment charge for its delivery, the officer said.
After the complainant transferred the amount, he received another call from the same number saying that the parcel has been caught by the customs department and that Rs 31,500 needs to be paid for its clearance, police said.
During investigation, it was found that the money collected fraudulently was withdrawn from an ATM in Khanpur Extension. A raid was carried out and Joe was arrested from Devli Road, Khanpur, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) Guriqbal Singh Sidhu said.
Joe disclosed that he used to make fake profiles of women on social media and send friend requests to men introducing himself as a foreigner. He used to gain their faith and became a close friend, the DCP said.
He would then tell the victims that he has sent some expensive gifts for them. Later, he called the victims posing as a customs officer and demanded money on the pretext of shipment charges, customs duties, tax, etc., Mr Sidhu said.
While making phone calls, he used different SIM cards of Indian and foreign numbers and asked his victims to transfer money. Local SIM cards and bank accounts were provided to the accused by one Chauhan who is on the run, police said.
Nine mobile phones and 31 SIM cards were recovered from him, police added.
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