A Nigerian, who allegedly diverted funds from the bank account of a Chennai-based septuagenarian to purchase electronic gadgets was arrested by the Delhi police last week. He was brought to Chennai on Thursday.
According to police, Govindarajan (70) of Saligramam lodged a complaint with Commissioner of Police T. Rajendran on December 20 that somebody had fraudulently withdrawn Rs.29,000 from his ICICI Bank account. Deputy Commissioner of Police C. Sridhar (Central Crime Branch) formed a special team. The team gathered vital clues with the help of the bank authorities and found that the purchase was made through an e-commerce website www.futurebazaar.com. The suspect had purchased a laptop and mobile phone with the funds of Govindarajan and requested delivery to an address in New Delhi. “We shared this information with the Delhi Police. When the courier delivery man was about to hand over the consignment, police nabbed the accused person identified as Uchena Ogbhuja (35) of Nigeria. Since he was found overstaying, the local police arrested him,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crimes) M. Sudhakar said.
The complainant probably responded to a phishing mail by disclosing the username/password of his net-banking account. “We suspect that there could be more persons involved in the case. This is a novel crime…the funds have been used to make purchases online with a false delivery address. When the courier delivery boy could not locate Ogbhuja in the New Delhi address, he made a call to his mobile phone. The accused fixed a public place to take delivery of the consignment from where he was arrested,” Dr. Sudhakar added.
