Nigerian arrested for duping crores through herbal oil export trap

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New Delhi: A Nigerian national staying in India illegally has been arrested by the Delhi police for allegedly duping several people to the tune of crores on the pretext of helping people export a herbal oil to Ghana.

The accused, Gilbert Okoye Pedro, was arrested by Delhi Police's cybercrime unit 'CyPAD' on Thursday for duping people by posing himself as a mediator in fictional deals of Folinic B12 Oil between Indian victims and a Ghanian company. The man used to target his victims through LinkedIn.

The victim, a resident of Tamilnadu's Vellore, in his complaint alleged that he received a LinkedIn connection request from a man who claimed to be one Raphael Hougbendji from Ghana, working as a PRO at a company in Ghana. He proposed a lucrative business to the complainant, of exporting herbal vaccination products (Folinic B12 Oil) from India to Ghana.

"The accused told the complainant that Folinic B12 Oil is required for producing vaccination for racehorses for their clients and the same oil is produced in India by a company. He further told the complainant that this oil was available in India at a very low price and that he would buy the same oil from the complainant at a high price, thus leading to a lot of profit," a police press note said.

The accused used to meet the victims in person to win their trust and thus inducing them to part with a larger sum of money. Initially, the complainant agreed to buy a sample quantity of oil for testing. Accordingly, he purchased 5 ml oil from the India company which later turned out to be honey, sent to the complainant by courier from Delhi itself.

"The same was given to the accused personally in Delhi. The accused pretended to be convinced of the authenticity of the said product and paid Rs 86,000 to the complainant for the sample oil, to earn the complete belief and trust of the complainant," the police said.

After receipt of money, the buyer started avoiding the complainant and asked for more money from the complainant on different pretexts. Then, the complainant got suspicious and opened the package of the so-called Folinic B12 Oil and found that it was just honey.

The police started investigating the matter after the victim's complaint. He was continuously changing his location and was finally nabbed from Greater Noida. Five mobile phones, one laptop and one passport were recovered from his possession.

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