Kerala Police Arrested Nigerian Internet Scammer

Shaba Abdul Razak, a Nigerian national aged 34, was taken into police custody on August 6, 2009 at an airport in Bangalore (India) on the charge that he had tricked people, one of whom was a non-resident Indian, into handing over Rs.3 Crores in an e-mail scam, officials of the police department revealed, as reported by the Press Trust of India on August 8, 2009.

Tomin J. Thachankary, Inspector General of Police at Kannur Range, Kerela (India), said that the state's police discovered the racket following a complaint from Shareef, a Qatar resident who was victimized, to Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the Home Minister, stating that he had lost an enormous sum of money in an online scam. The Minister, however, sent the complaint to the police's cyber-wing, which devised a plan to catch the scammers playing fraud in the country.

Soon the investigations started that suggested - in February 2008, an e-mail had come to Shareef that purported to be from the Bank of Africa notifying Shareef that a huge fortune of $15 Million awaited him from a millionaire, according to the IG, as reported by The Hindu on August 8, 2009.

Since the first e-mail, several more were exchanged between the scammers and Shareef who was then asked to visit Burkina Faso in Africa for collecting the money. But when Shareef said he could not make the journey, another e-mail arrived stating that there was a lawyer on duty who was specially appointed to supervise the remittance of the fortune. Thereafter, the e-mail asked Shareef to wire €29,500 via Western Union as remuneration for that lawyer.

Apart from this amount, Shareef also remitted to the scammers €80,000 more at different intervals, trusting whatever reasons they gave.

Furthermore, the Police discovered that two fraudsters, including Razak had visited Shareef's house carrying bundles of blackened US dollars. Claiming that the black coloring was done to escape Customs officials, the fraudsters asked Shareef to give more money to buy color-removing chemicals.

The Police said - it was now evident that the Nigerian scammers' group was active in some other states of South India.

» SPAMfighter News - 8/27/2009