brand logo

Nigerians scammers back at it

24 Jun 2021

 

  • Police urge public vigilance 

  • Report ‘prize winning, money depositing’ mails, texts, calls

  By Dinitha Rathnayake   Certain Nigerian nationals currently residing in Sri Lanka have resumed their organised criminal activities online and therefore, the Police has requested the public to stay vigilant. Speaking to The Morning, Police Media Spokesman Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Ajith Rohana said that even though four Nigerian nationals were arrested a few days back in relation to online scams, it seems that they have recommenced their criminal activities again. The Morning’s investigation team received many complaints relating to this online scam which involves an electronic mail or WhatsApp message or SMS text being sent to members of the public, asking them to accept some amount of money. The information sent is as follows: “This money was given to me as compensation by the United Nations (UN) here in Afghanistan because as a Major of the Army I lead some operations to eradicate terrorists and illegal drugs dealings that sponsored the Al-Qaeda and the Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad group here in Afghanistan. During these operations, we succeeded in sending the Group away from the relevant city. Additionally, a lot of money was recovered from the assignment. So, the UN called my group and to show appreciation for a job well done, gave us some money to share among ourselves, of which, my own portion is US $ 1.5 million. Now that you are very close to me, I want to move this money by diplomatic immunity courier service to your country, so that you can save and keep the money for me until I go back to my country within the next two months and come to meet you in your country before that because now I have less than two months to stay here. You know that since I am still working for the Government, I cannot keep this money for the time being because I don’t have any trustworthy person to act as my next of kin. Therefore, I just want you to act as my next of kin to receive it in your country. Honestly, if I fail to move this money soon, before I leave this country, I will lose it. This is what I would like you to do. Once you receive this money, you should take $ 50,000 which is for you so that you can buy anything you want, and keep the remaining to start up an investment until I meet you there. You should know that I am a senior Army officer and am still serving my Government and if I am not 100% sure that we can move it to your country, I will not do so because the delivery person will deliver the money directly to your home address. I assure you that this transaction is risk free and its success is 100% guaranteed. However, in order to expedite the necessary arrangements, you need to send details like your full name, the address where you want the funds to be delivered to, and your mobile number that will be used to contact you when the diplomatic officer arrives in your country for delivery.” Meanwhile, the scammers would add more details to this conversation saying that they will arrange the money as a package and declare it as diplomatic family valuables at the airport, and if one sends one’s details, they will call one and ask to deposit some amount of money in order to receive the package. The scammers will also ask one to keep this conversation as top secret where nobody else should know about it. If one deposits money or easy cash, the amount they ask for, all communications would be ceased by them, from that time onwards. Therefore, SDIG Rohana requested the public to stay alert and to lodge a complaint to the email address – dircid@police.com – if one receives any message or call similar to this. The Kelaniya Divisional Crime Investigation Unit has arrested an organised criminal group including foreign nationals who had defrauded over Rs. 1.7 million through an online scam in February. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the fraud had been committed by claiming that the victim had won a prize and then requesting the victim to deposit money in order to receive the prize. Investigations carried out by the said Unit had revealed that the scam was carried out by an organised group using various SIM cards. Accordingly, six Nigerians and two Sri Lankans have been arrested in connection with the incident. During the investigations, two computers, 79 SIM cards of various countries, and stocks of paper used to print fake money have been found in the Mount Lavinia house where the Nigerians were residing. SDIG Rohana added that such fraudulent activities are being carried out, implying that the calls are from foreign countries, by using various SIM cards.


More News..