Six Nigerian nationals were arrested in India for an online prize advance fee fraud racket. While online prize money and other frauds are quite common, there were a few interesting points to note:
- Nigerians nationals ran the scam in India targeting Indian nationals on business visas. Usually these scams are run in different countries to make prosecution difficult
- The scamsters had in their possession many legal documents such as PAN cards and driving licenses in their names. These are documents, one should not be able to obtain on business visas
- Their operating equipment comprised of 14 laptops, 15 data cards, seven pen drives, 23 mobile phones, printer, laptop cards, various forged documents of the Indian Customs, the Reserve Bank of India and foreign courts, and government and private company documents. Obtaining a mobile connection in India requires submission of both a Government ID and address proof.
- They used software for generating e-mail ids and mobile numbers, randomly select them and send thousands of SMSes and e-mails daily
- They opened bank accounts in which the advance fee was deposited and then removed through an ATM card. Bank accounts in India need address verification and other proofs which they were able to obtain illegally
For more details on these type of scams and how to avoid them:
How you get suckered in Online scams and the little one can do about it?
I am surprised people are still getting lured into such scams, several efforts have been made to make the awareness. I think the awareness needs to be made from a higher authorities at the government.
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