Indian police have arrested two Nigerian nationals in the city of Gurgaon for allegedly impersonating company directors on WhatsApp and defrauding employees into transferring money to accounts controlled by a cybercrime ring.
Operatives of the cybercrime unit said the suspects posed as senior executives of Indian companies and pressured employees to make urgent financial transfers. The money was then routed into bank accounts linked to the group, police said.
In a report published Wednesday by The Times of India, the suspects were identified as Ojo Uyiosa and another man identified only as James. They were arrested Saturday after investigators traced a suspicious phone number connected to the fraud.
Police said Uyiosa entered India in 2014 on a student visa, while James arrived in 2023 on a tourist visa. Investigators believe the two worked with other Nigerian nationals to carry out the scheme.
According to police, about 1 million rupees — more than 15 million naira — was transferred into a Bandhan Bank account linked to the operation. The account had previously been flagged in two separate cybercrime complaints.
Further interrogation and analysis of evidence indicated the suspects were involved in multiple fraud cases using the same method, police said. A formal case was filed, and the suspects were arraigned in court Sunday and remanded in police custody for three days.
Investigators said the suspects mainly used WhatsApp to communicate with victims, while accomplices arranged bank accounts to receive the funds. Two mobile phones and three SIM cards allegedly used in the fraud were recovered. Police said efforts are ongoing to trace additional assets, identify other members of the syndicate and determine the full scope of the operation.
The arrests come amid reports of increased detentions of Nigerians abroad over cyber-related crimes in countries including Ghana and South Africa. Nigerian authorities and members of the diaspora have raised concerns over the impact of such cases on law-abiding citizens overseas.
