Nigerian Detained for Lottery Fraud

The Cyber Crime Cell of Pune Police crime branch (India) has recently (May 28, 2011) taken into custody Ali Ibrahim Sehu (38), a Nigerian, for supposedly conning a man to the tune of above Rs 2 lakh in a lottery scam, as reported by The Times of India, on May 29, 2011.

As per the Police, the whole episode occurred during November 2009 - January 2010. The petitioner, Ratnakar Shrikrishna Mujumdar (51), a local man from Bibvewadi (Pune), got an e-mail informing that, he has won a lottery worth $1 Million.

As written in the e-mail, Mujumdar deposited a sum of Rs 39,500 in the account of some Manish S Das and Rs 1.69 Lakh in Santosh V Kamat's account as custom clearance fee. Later on, when Mujumdar was asked for more money, he realized that he is being scammed by some fraudsters and he immediately reported the matter to Sahakarnagar (Pune) Police.

The cyber cell further acquired a production warrant from a Pune magisterial court and asked for the custody of Sehu from Aurangabad, where he was detained in a similar case. Sehu was in the police custody till May 30 (2011).

Regrettably, instances like the above mentioned ones (lottery scams) have been continuously rising.

Due to the maliciousness related with such scams, officials stated that, there are few easy tips that netizens can take to avoid such kind of fake e-mails.

First and foremost, netizens should always keep in mind that they can only win a lottery amount, wherein they have actually participated. If they are not able to remind of entering a lottery that the e-mail says they have won, they should take this as an immediate warning; that somebody is attempting to con them.

Secondly, they should always look at the name of the lottery that the e-mail claims to represent. Scam e-mails generally name lottery organizations that don't actually exist. Thus, if the lottery doesn't exist, the e-mail is also false.

Conclusively, netizens should always keep in mind that no authentic lottery game will ever ask a winner to pay any processing fee to claim the lottery amount. Thus, if a lottery winner receives a fake e-mail asking for money since they're a "winner", either avoid it or report the matter to the authorities.

Related article: Nigerian Scammers Secure Huge Money from Australian Victims

» SPAMfighter News - 6/7/2011