Delhi businessman held for aiding Nigerian fraud

MUMBAI:

Vile Parle police

on December 7 arrested a

Delhi businessman

, Ritesh Pandey (24), for allowing

Nigerian

fraudsters to use his bank account to deposit a siphoned sum of Rs 1.6 crore that a 37-year-old victim transferred from her account to buy ‘medicinal seeds’. The victim contemplated suicide after she lost her savings in the

fraud

.

She paid the money in five instalments after being lured with a business proposal to deal with the seeds to treat cancer. She kept making payments, and the fraudsters kept raising their demands, forcing her to buy at least 1,000 packets (each containing 10-15 seeds).

The kingpin, Maxwell John, who claimed to be a doctor in UK, offered assistance in procuring the seeds and promised to find buyers for double the procurement price. They siphoned Rs 1.6 crore from the MBA professional from Vile Parle from August 14 to October 10, after she befriended John on a social media site. “The victim got suspicious when numbers with which she had communicated in Delhi till December were suddenly switched off. John repeatedly demanded more money. Pandey was arrested based on account details tracked down in Delhi, which he opened with fake documents,” said a police officer.

The victim accepted a friend request on the site on August 14. The victim said in the complaint, “Within a week of communicating on the site, we shared contact details. We chatted on a messaging app, when the accused lured me with the deal, claiming the seeds had high value in Maharashtra. I made four fund transfers, and once a woman, Sonia Gupta, introduced herself through John. I was told to buy 200 packets, which cost around Rs35 lakh, and the payment was done through real-time gross settlement systems (RTGS) on August 25.”

When the victim called John, he said the client had placed an order for 500 packets. So, she got another 300 packets after making two RTGS transfers for Rs66 lakh on September 15 and 19. “After receiving the money, the fraudsters said the client had changed their demands and now wanted 1,000 packets. The victim told John that she had run out of money and would take time to arrange for more,” said investigators.

She got a loan from friends and broke her fixed deposits. “She transferred Rs35 lakh and Rs27 lakh on September 28 and October 6. Finally, on October 10, Rs35 lakh was handed over to Gupta, who came from Delhi to deliver the seeds. She gave the cash after breaking her fixed deposits. Earlier, she received the packets through courier but the final one was hand-delivered. She approached police when she realized she was being duped,” said the investigators.

The accused used at least four accounts to transfer funds, which were closed after withdrawing the money.

Deputy commissioner of police (zone VIII) Virendra Mishra led a team of senior inspector Laxman Chavan, inspector Mahadev Nimbalkar and detection staff, which arrested Pandey from Delhi. Soon after his arrest, other accused went into hiding. Pandey was remanded to 15 days in judicial custody on Tuesday after spending 14 days in police custody.