Nigerian hacker cheated girls on matrimony sites, minted Rs 57 Lakh

As per news source, a Nigerian self-trained hacker was arrested for cheating innocent women who were looking for a perfect match on popular matrimony websites like Shaadi.com and Jeevansaathi.com. The cyber crime police of Uttar Pradesh have arrested the hacker from Delhi. He made several fake profiles on matrimony and social media websites to cheat people.

In February 2022, the police said that they got a complaint from a Noida resident that her family members created her profile on the matrimony website Jeevansaathi as they were looking for a perfect match for her. They came across an attractive profile of Yogendra Jain. As mentioned in the profile he was settled abroad and had gone to reputed institutes for his higher education. Impressed with his profile the duo started chatting.

Few days later after chatting, the man said that he will visit India on February 28 and then he will meet the family and take the proposal of their wedding forward. On the same day she received a call at around 10 am from a woman who claimed herself to be from the airport authority. The woman informed her that Jain had been detained as he was carrying huge unaccounted money.

“She said that Yogendra Jain was carrying 50,000 pounds which is almost Rs 50 lakh in Indian currency. She insisted that I will have to pay Rs 10 lakh to get him out of their custody. The officer also made me speak to the man who emotionally seek my help. After continuous calls and threats by the officer, I paid Rs 1.07 lakh in the account of Ajeet Kundu, who they said was an accounts officer in the department. Soon after paying the money, I released that I was cheated by the gang of fraudsters,” the victim said in the FIR.

Under the supervision of SP, Prof Triveni Singh, the cyber crime police started tracking the money and examining the digital records of calls and chats done with the victim. With the help of advanced tools the police team tracked the accused in Delhi and arrested him.

“Nigerian hackers are using innovative ways to cheat people. Here he first created fake attractive accounts of eligible bachelors. He then using virtual numbers used to chat with girls fooling them that he was located abroad. Then he used to make attractive promises and lured his victims. Once the girl was in his trap then he used to demand money by making different excuses like getting caught at the airport,” Singh said.

He explained that it is difficult to catch these criminals as they use SIM and accounts on fake identity cards. All the digital tracking lands up in the dark end. It was through stringent digital investigation that police could zero down on him.

Noida police took help of Dr Nishakant Ojha who is an eminent expert in Cyber /Aerospace Security and Chief Strategic Officer BECIL for the investigation.

Police have found ethical hacking books and tutorials from the Nigerian accused who gained his cyber knowledge through the latest books and videos. He had got over 70 SIMs on fake documents and social media accounts.

The accused has cheated on another woman from Indore in a similar style. Police are trying to ascertain how many people he has cheated and the money made by the gang. Police are also examining other gang members, local informers and Nigerian gangs associated with him. Initial investigation reveals he has made more than Rs 57 lakh by the different online cheating methods.