African national cheats Hyderabad woman of Rs 10.7 lakh in matrimonial fraud; nabbed

Hyderabad: A native of Guinea Bissau in Africa, who posed as a non-resident Indian in Scotland, United Kingdom, and cheated a city woman of Rs.10.65 lakh on a matrimonial site, was arrested by the Cybercrime wing of the Central Crime Station here on Friday.

The suspect, Cabral Edmondo alias Bright, 34, a barber residing in Dwaraka of Delhi and a native of Guinea Bissau, had got in touch with the victim earlier this year on a matrimonial site after she registered her details to remarry. He had introduced himself as Krishna Kumar residing in Scotland and the two began chatting on WhatsApp.

After a few days, he told her he would be visiting India to see her and her family so that they could discuss the matter and get married. He said he booked the flight ticket on February 7 from Glasgow and again called her saying he had landed at Delhi Airport the next day. He then told her that the airport authorities had seized his luggage as he had a huge amount of pounds with him and that the authorities were asking him to pay money to release him with a ‘clearance certificate’. He asked her to make the payment on his behalf as he did not know anyone in India and the amount would be accepted only in Indian rupees.

Believing him, she transferred Rs.10.65 lakh. In between, she got calls saying if she did not pay up, she would also be in trouble because of him. She slowly realized she was cheated and approached the police.

The police, who tracked down Edmondo and arrested him, have cautioned the public not to proceed without proper verification of genuineness on matrimonial sites and not to transfer funds in advance responding to delivery of parcels.