Delhi Police has arrested a Nigerian national for allegedly duping several people to the tune of crores

The Delhi Police has arrested a Nigerian national, who was staying illegally in India, for allegedly duping several people to the tune of crores on the pretext of helping them export a herbal oil to Ghana.

The accused, Gilbert Okoye Pedro, was arrested by Delhi Police's cyber-crime unit "CyPAD" on Thursday for duping people by posing himself as a mediator in fictional deals related with Folinic B12 Oil. He would help Indian victims export the oil to a Ghanian company. The man used to target his victims through LinkedIn.

One victim, who was a resident of Tamil Nadu's Vellore area, in his complaint alleged that he received a LinkedIn connection request from a man, who claimed to be Raphael Hougbendji from Ghana.

Raphael Hougbendji introduced himself to be working as a public relations officer (PRO) at a company in Ghana. He proposed a lucrative business to the complainant of exporting herbal vaccination products (Folinic B12 Oil) from India to Ghana.

"The accused told the complainant that Folinic B12 Oil is required for producing vaccination for race-horses for their clients. This oil is produced in India by a company. This oil was available in India at a very low price. He would buy the same oil from the complainant at a high price, thus leading to a lot of profit," a police press note said.

The accused used to meet the victims in person to win their trust. He persuaded them to part with a larger sum of money. Initially, the complainant agreed to buy a sample quantity of oil for testing. He purchased 5 ml oil from the India company which later turned out to be honey, sent to the complainant by courier from Delhi itself.

"The accused pretended to be convinced of the authenticity of the said product and paid Rs 86,000 to the complainant for the sample oil to earn the complete trust of the complainant," the police said.

After receipt of money, the buyer started avoiding the complainant and asked for more money on different pretexts. Then, the complainant got suspicious and opened the package of the so-called Folinic B12 Oil and found that it was just honey.

The police started investigating the matter after the victim's complaint.

He was continuously changing his location and was finally arrested from Greater Noida. Five mobile phones, one laptop and one passport were recovered from his possession.