According to the police, the accused made fake accounts on social media and developed friendships with people and gathered their personal information.
(Representational)The Noida police have arrested three African men from Uttam Nagar for allegedly cheating people of their money by posing as customs officials and promising them of expensive gifts from overseas.
The accused have been identified as Saylla Cheick, Basil Ofoma and Tuo Idrissa. Two of the accused hail from Ivory Coast in western Africa and the third from Nigeria, the police said.
According to the police, the accused made fake accounts on social media and developed friendships with people and gathered their personal information.
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After chatting for a few days, the accused offered to send expensive gifts on their birthdays, said the police. They called the victims posing as customs officials and said that expensive gifts, including money and jewellery, had come for them from abroad, the police said. However, the victims were asked to pay a certain amount of money to receive these gifts and threatened that if it was not paid, they would go to jail for money laundering, added the police. The victims ended up paying the accused and later registered a case at Sector 39 police station.
The police said that the accused may have carried out many such operations in the state.
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