5 Nigerian men and a Bhutanese woman arrested in Noida for cheating women through dating apps

According to police, the accused created fake profiles on dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble, Ok Cupid, Badoo and Hinge and befriended women by pretending to be plastic surgeons and living in India.

“They used to make a fake story about arriving in India to meet the women and getting caught at the airport when the customs check was done for carrying foreign currency. After that, a gang member impersonated a customs official and duped the women by taking money as customs for the person’s release,” said an official.

Police have identified the accused as Okolie Stephen (34), Okolie Prosper (32), Okosindhi Michael (23), Umadi Roland (26) and Okolie Daniel – all from Delta State of Nigeria and residents of Supertech Eco Village Golf Country Dankaur Police Station.

The other accused, 36-year-old Kunjangmo, was from Bhutan’s Trongsa state and had been operating in the city for the past three months.

According to the police, the accused came to India in 2021 on educational and medical visas for six months, but stayed illegally even after the visas expired.

“The Sector 20 police station received information that a woman had complained that someone had cheated her through a dating app. On the app, you were chatting with a person named Dr. Malvik. The man described himself as a Dutch resident and said he was coming to India to meet the woman. Then he told the woman that customs officials had caught him in India and demanded money. The woman paid for it, but then found out that she had been scammed. The Sector 20 police station investigated the case and arrested five people of Nigerian origin,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Noida, Harish Chander.

The female member of the gang pretends to be a customs officer and talks to the victims. After receiving the money, the accused switched off their phones and disappeared,” Chander said.

The DCP also said that the police are analyzing the chats which have shown that hundreds of women have been cheated by this gang. According to the police, the accused also befriended women from countries like Portugal, Sweden, Netherlands and cheated on them. According to them, the accused has been doing this for the past eight years.

Police found three laptops, 17 mobile phones, an internet dongle, Rs 40,860 in cash, three passports and a scooter and about Rs 1.25 lakh frozen in the State Bank of India (SBI) account of the accused.

A case under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act has been registered at Sector 20 police station.