A group of four Nigerian nationals were arrested by the Cyber Crime Wing of the Chennai Police on Friday, March 24, for allegedly cheating a Tamil Nadu-based businessman. The group had reportedly cheated several businessmen by promising ‘good returns’ on investments. The four of them were arrested from Kharghar in Navi Mumbai and were brought to Chennai.

The arrested persons have been identified as Okories Godswill Sainasa (32), Uche John Imeka, (47), Godwin Immanuel (32) and Eposie Uchenna Stanley (32). According to The Hindu, the group operated in teams and contacted the businessmen through LinkedIn. A fake profile was created with the display picture of a Caucasian woman. The profile was under the name of ‘Nora Morrison’ and had initially approached a businessman from Kolathur. They claimed that they were the CEO of a pharmaceutical company in Canada and offered a good commission for supplying their firm with herbal oil.

The group had four teams where they pretended to be executives, purchase managers, suppliers and quality control executives. They never made any video or voice calls to the people they targeted. They identified people in the import-export business who had made their details available on social media platforms.

The Hindu reported that the Kolathur businessman made an online transfer of Rs 33 lakh to the account given by the fake LinkedIn profile, to procure oil from Delhi and ship it to Canada. However, the businessman did not receive any commission as he was promised and lost his money as he never heard back from the Nigerians.

The businessman then lodged a complaint and a special team of police led by Cyber Crime Wing inspector T Vinodh Kumar analysed the call records, emails and other communication between the two parties. Upon investigation, it was revealed that the suspects were operating from near Mumbai. The four of them were arrested with the help of the Navi Mumbai police after 10 days of investigation, Vinodh Kumar told The Hindu.