Indian authorities have arrested four Nigerian nationals in separate operations across Gurugram and Uttar Pradesh for their alleged involvement in high-profile social media scams and impersonation fraud.
In Gurugram, police apprehended three suspects—identified as Sunday, Chinedu, and Jules—following a targeted raid.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested a fourth suspect, 49-year-old Uchenwa, in Delhi, effectively dismantling two distinct syndicates that specialized in catfishing and emotionally manipulating victims online.
The Gurugram arrests were triggered by a complaint filed in April last year by a local man who was duped on Instagram.
The suspects allegedly posed as women online, gained the victim’s trust, and eventually convinced him to transfer ₹69,900 Indian Rupees (993,600 Naira) under the guise of airport registration fees to exchange a cheque.
Following a detailed digital investigation, law enforcement tracked the trio to Noida, arresting them late Thursday night.
During the operation, police recovered a digital arsenal used to facilitate the scams, including 19 mobile phones, one laptop, and 18 Indian and international SIM cards.
Immigration probes into the Gurugram suspects revealed significant visa violations alongside their cybercrimes. Investigators disclosed that Sunday had entered India illegally through Bangladesh in 2022.
Conversely, Chinedu and Jules had arrived in the country legitimately on student visas back in 2018 and 2017, respectively, before pivoting to full-time cyber fraud.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that the group’s primary strategy relied heavily on creating fake female profiles to entrap unsuspecting social media users across India.
In a structurally similar but far more lucrative operation, the Uttar Pradesh STF arrested Uchenwa for orchestrating a massive customs clearance scam that defrauded a Lucknow resident of approximately ₹68 lakh (9.3 billion Naira).
Uchenwa allegedly operated fake accounts using stolen American and British identities. In this instance, he posed as an English woman named “Doris Williams” on Facebook in August 2025, eventually convincing the victim that she was traveling to India with ₹3 crore (41 billion Naira) in cash but had been detained by customs officials at the Delhi airport.
The victim was systematically drained of his savings between August 2025 and January 2026, making multiple transfers into accounts provided by Uchenwa’s accomplices, who posed as customs and remittance officers.
Following a complaint, the STF cybercrime unit, supervised by ASP Vishal Vikram Singh, utilized advanced technical surveillance to track Uchenwa down.
Upon his arrest, Uchenwa confessed to investigators that he had originally migrated to India in 2010 to pursue a legitimate garment business but turned to cybercrime after suffering severe financial losses.
