Pune: Nigerian Citizen Scams Women On Facebook, Instagram With Promise Of Valuable Gift Parcels; Arrested From Delhi
Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 26th April 2023: In a stunning turn of events, the Pune Cyber Police station has foiled the nefarious designs of a foreign national who had been masquerading as a doctor and pilot hailing from the imperial cities of the United Kingdom and the United States.
This devious individual, identified as Robinhood Okoh, a 39-year-old Nigerian citizen who lived in Delhi, had been luring young girls and women on Facebook and Instagram with the promise of valuable parcels.
The accused, with a preternatural ability to charm and entice, had been sending out friend requests to unsuspecting girls and women on the social media platform. He regaled them with tales of his impressive credentials as a pilot and a doctor, sparking their interest and stoking their curiosity.
The fraudster then took advantage of his victims’ trust and gullibility, pretending to send them valuable parcels. He kept up the façade by calling them days later and pretending to be a customs officer, citing various reasons such as parcel clearance, GST, IMF, and Money Laundering certificates, in order to extract large sums of money from them. In this manner, the accused was able to swindle an astounding Rs 11.4 lakh from a 51-year-old woman, a resident of Manjari. The incident took place last year.
The accused had pretended to be a pilot named Kimberley and had promised to send Diwali gifts comprising gold and foreign currencies to the complainant, whom he met online through Instagram. He had then coerced her into paying Rs 6.6 lakh for customs clearance else threatened her with legal action. Upon realizing that she had been defrauded, the victim lodged a complaint, and an FIR was registered by the Hadapsar police station on October 28th, 2022. The accused had used the same modus operandi to cheat other women as well.
Upon detecting the ruse, the Pune Cyber Police quickly sprang into action. Technical investigations led the cyber police to conclude that the accused was based in Delhi. A team was dispatched to Delhi, where they apprehended the accused and brought him back to Pune on transit remand.
During the investigation, the police confiscated four mobile phones, one hard disk, a pen drive, 15 SIM cards, seven debit cards, and other incriminating materials. The court has remanded the accused into police custody until April 28th.
The investigation was conducted under the guidance of Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ramnath Pokle, DCP (EOW and Cyber) Shriniwas Ghadge and ACP Vijay Palasule. The team included Senior Police Inspector Meenal Supe-Patil, Assistant Police Inspector Anuradha Bhosle, and police personnel Rajkumar Jaba, Navnath Jadhav, Babasaheb Karale, Nilesh Landge, Sonali Chavan, Sandesh Karne, Shahrukh Sheikh, and Nitin Chandane.
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