Four Nigerians held for cheating man of Rs 13L

BANGALORE: Four Nigerian nationals have been arrested for allegedly cheating a Bangalorean to the tune of Rs 13 lakh.
The accused approached the victim through an email, saying they knew a man who had died in an Iraq bomb blast and the Iraqi had left behind $22.5 million in a bank. “Help us with some money so that we can withdraw his entire money .You shall be paid 40% of the total amount,” they told him.
The four arrested Nigerians -- Momodu Prince Julius alias Michel John Spencer, 39, Kofi Frances alias Kelvin Otubu, 29, Immanuel Ujunwa Okoram, 28 and Ibeh Ugochokwu Daniel, 20 -- had sent similar requests by email to many across the country. One Jayaprakash of Devanagar near Kodigehalli, however, fell prey and handed over Rs 80,000 to the accused for paper work.
Momodu met Jayaprakash once at the latter’s residence and told him that it would take a few months to withdraw the entire amount. The Nigerian is also believed to have claimed that they had chemical papers which could be used to double currency in a refrigerator.
Jayaprakash soon gave them Rs 13 lakh and, in return, Momodu and others gave him a few black papers. The Nigerians also gave him bundles of white papers cut into the size of Rs 500 notes and asked Jayaprakash to keep the bundles and black papers in a fridge.
“Jayaprakash followed their advice and placed the bundles inside the fridge and took it out after a day. On seeing that the blank papers had remained the same, Jayaprakash approached the Kodigehalli police,” a police officer said.
Police began tracking the accused by using their internet protocol address. They found out that the Nigerian nationals were residing in Bhadrappa Layout and had been sent to jail in connection with another offence. The Nigerians are in police custody . Their passports had been impounded in connection with their previous offence.