Date of Publishing:19/8/2010

Location:Mumbai

Mumbai: A city-based businessman lost Rs 7 lakh to a Nigerian fraud in an African nation, where he was called for a business deal but came away unscathed with the help of a Pakistani national.

The latter guided him to an Indian community office and the local police who saved his life. Several other traders had been murdered by the same Nigerian gang, local cops told P Chandra Sekaran. Sekaran has now penned a script to make a documentary on the Nigerian scam.

Sekaran started an export business in 2007. After completing the registration formalities, he started to search for interested parties to supply bed sheets. He got an email from an organization, Shepherd Aid Network, purportedly working for the waraffected people of Benin. The country neighbours Nigeria, where the official language was French.

Sekaran confirmed the existence of the company via his contacts. He went to Benin at the invitation of the organisation’s director, John Ndaba, to complete legal formalities for the business. Sekaran was received at the airport by a Nigerian representative and taken to a hotel.

The following day, he was taken to a seven-storeyed building where the organization had an office. Sekaran was asked to deposit Rs 7 lakh with the finance department of the company. Ndaba promised to take him on a tour of their rehabilitation centre and Sekaran returned to his hotel. But his calls to Ndaba, the next two days, went unanswered.

The third day, he managed to reach the organization's office alone but was turned away. He then started to inquire about the organisation but locals understood only French.

His four hours of effort ended when he suddenly noticed a man who looked like an Indian. Sekaran approached him and the man introduced himself as a Pakistani, Abdulla.

Abdulla guided Sekaran to the community office in Beni, where he narrated his story to community officer Manglani Gobind who contacted the police. Sekaran then received a call from Ndaba, asking him to take back his money. But Gobind convinced Sekaran that it could be a plot to kill him.

Gobind and Sekaran along with a team of policemen raided the organisation's office. The police then provided armed protection to Sekaran for three days till he flew back to India. "I am lucky I survived. I approached the president and senior ministers to make a documentary on my script which will help to educate the people about Nigerian scam, said Sekaran.

5 Nigerians held in raid

Mumbai: A team of cops from Silvassa raided a Santa Cruz residence on Saturday in search of a Nigerian wanted for a phishing offence. But besides the person they were looking for, they found one more person wanted in a narcotics case and three others who were staying in India even after their visas had expired. All were found to be involved in the phishing scam. The Nigerians had come to India on student visas. Five arrested in phishing scam

Mumbai: A team of cops from Silvassa raided a Santa Cruz residence on Saturday with the help of Mumbai cops, in search of a Nigerian person wanted for a phishing offence. But what they found there was beyond their imagination; besides the person they were looking for, there was a second person wanted in a narcotics case and three others who were staying in India even after their visas had expired. And all of them were found to be involved in the phishing scam.

Silvassa crime branch was searching for the accused, Belly, who had cheated a victim there. Their investigation into the phishing scam took them to two rented flats in Asha Colony on Juhu-Tara Road. They contacted Mumbai crime branch and local police and raided the flats. They nabbed 11 Nigerians, including a girl, and seized nine laptops, 20 cellphones, several SIM cards from their officecum-residence.

The police recovered several dubious emails from the laptop sent to the victims, including their replies. The police sent the seized material for the examination to the cyber cell.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Deven Bharti said, "We have seized the laptops and are collecting other details. They sent several e-mails to their victims. We also found several bank transaction details.

Silvassa police has taken Belly into their custody. One of the accused has been taken into custody by the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Mumbai police and the others were detained by Santa Cruz police. The police found that three of them were staying in country illegally as their visas expired in 2007.

A police officer said, "All of them were involved in the phishing scam and were doing it from their flat but no offence was registered. Those who had valid documents were asked to go. The acccused came to India on a student visa.

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