Indian authorities have apprehended a 49-year-old Nigerian citizen linked to a transnational cyber fr@ud network that fabricates fake identities of American and British nationals to swindle unsuspecting victims with promises of luxury gifts and foreign currency.
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The suspect, identified as Uchenwa, was taken into custody by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) on Friday, May 15, 2026, at a residence in Khanpur, South Delhi. He is accused of defrauding a Lucknow-based victim of approximately Rs 68 lakh. Uchenwa had reportedly been residing in Delhi for several years prior to his arrest.
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At the time of his arrest, officers seized three mobile phones and four SIM cards from his possession.
How the Sc@m Worked
According to STF officials, the syndicate operated by setting up counterfeit social media profiles impersonating citizens from the US and UK, which were then used to establish emotional connections with Indian men and women. Once victims were sufficiently drawn in, fraudsters would claim to be sending valuable gifts, foreign currency, or luxury goods to India.
Victims were subsequently contacted by accomplices posing as customs or income tax officials, who demanded payment of fabricated fees — including customs duty, GST, income tax, and clearance charges — supposedly required to release the promised items.
The Lucknow Victim’s Ordeal
The investigation was triggered after a resident of Daliganj, Lucknow, filed a complaint alleging he had been defrauded of around Rs 68 lakh. According to the complainant, the ordeal began in August 2025 when he received a Facebook friend request from a woman calling herself “Doris William,” who claimed to be based in England.
After weeks of cultivating an emotional bond, the woman allegedly informed him she intended to visit India, bringing British pounds worth nearly Rs 3 crore. Shortly after, the victim began receiving calls from individuals masquerading as customs officials, who claimed the woman had been detained at Delhi airport for carrying a large sum of foreign currency.
He was initially asked to pay Rs 61,500 in clearance fees via a UPI account. However, the demands did not stop there. Fraudsters continued to invent new charges, eventually convincing him to transfer nearly Rs 40 lakh across multiple accounts. A separate scammer, posing as a remittance officer, later persuaded him to part with an additional Rs 28 lakh.
The fraudulent transactions persisted until January 2026, when the victim finally recognized he had been conned and reported the matter to the police.
The Arrest
Following the complaint, the STF’s cyber unit launched a dedicated operation under the supervision of Assistant Superintendent of Police Vishal Vikram Singh. Through a combination of technical surveillance and intelligence inputs, investigators tracked Uchenwa to his Delhi hideout and arrested him.
During questioning, Uchenwa reportedly admitted that he had originally arrived in India in 2010 to pursue a career in the garment trade but turned to cybercrime after his business ventures failed financially.
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