The arrest of two Nigerian nationals, Goodey Osagabovo and Sylvester Uluebeka, by the Madurai police in a cheating case early this month is viewed as a major breakthrough in cyber crime cases. Using technological aid available with them, the city’s Cyber Cell managed to trace them to Bangalore.
The case was that the Nigerian youth had uploaded an advertisement on a popular free classified advertisements website that they were selling high-end mobile phones of a globally popular brand at cheaper rates.
Susai Antony Kumar, a city resident, had placed an order for 10 mobile phones in June by calling the cellphone number published in the advertisement. Later whenever Antony Kumar called them up seeking the consignment, they would come up with some excuses and made him deposit more and more money. Only after coughing up Rs.94,800 in five instalments that he realised that he was cheated and preferred a complaint.
“In such cases, tracing the accused with the phone number and bank account number becomes difficult because they would not be in their names. Even in this case, the bank account was in the name of another Nigerian who had left for his country,” a police officer said.
The Cyber Cell team patiently waited and traced them by zeroing in on the shop where they used to recharge a particular mobile number, the phone numbers to which they made frequent calls, and the ATMs which they used to withdraw the money from, the police said.
Simultaneously, they asked Antony Kumar to keep talking to the duo, so that they will not go underground.
In many such cyber crime cases where people were cheated in the name of lotteries over mobile phone, the police have bumped on gullible roadside dwellers whose photographs and documents were used to start bank accounts and get mobile phone connections. “These people would have sold their identity for a pittance and would not have any idea about those criminals,” the officer said.
The police officer also advised the people to be careful while making transactions with unknown people. They should never allow unknown persons to use their SIM cards or give details of their bank accounts to them, he noted.
