2 Nigerians held for duping city businessman

HYDERABAD: Two Nigerians were arrested on Monday for cheating businessmen on the pretext of starting a business venture. The duo, who had cheated a person from Hyderabad of Rs 20 lakh were lured by the same victim and held when they came here. The accused are Tazan Ogba Efe and Frederick Etebefia, both from the Delta state in Nigeria. According to Task Force deputy commissioner of police Ch Ramchander, Efe came to the country by obtaining a visa in the guise of taking medical treatment and staying in Mumbai. There, he came in contact with other Nigerians who are into cheating innocent people in the guise of arranging foreign funding to earn easy money. The other person arrived in the country on a business visa. “Both of them joined hands to cheat people and contacting people by sending spam mails in the guise of investing or arranging $10 million from Barclays Bank to companies in India,” Ramchander said.Once a person responds to the mail, the duo contact him over phone and introduce themselves as employees of the US embassy. One person from the city fell into their trap and associates of the accused, Denis Joy and Alfred Kainyame came to the city and met the businessman. Initially, they asked the victim to show the money he has and promised to invest three times more that amount. “Claiming they would be getting dollars in black bundles, they give the black paper to the victim. They put a couple of genuine notes in the bundles and clean them in front of the victim to convince him. Then they leave the place with original dollars given by the victim,’’ Ramchander said.After being defrauded, the businessman contacted the Nigerians through another e-mail ID and evinced interest to invest in their business. The fraudsters got lured into the trap and came to strike a deal again. The victim informed the police who laid a trap at Lumbini Park and arrested the two Nigerians. They recovered a briefcase containing 25 black paper bundles, a passport and two identity cards.