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South African held in Delhi for duping people

Posted on June 22, 2015 from Delhi, National ι Report #8169

New Delhi, June 22 (IANS) A 40-year-old South African national has been arrested for cheating several people on the pretext of providing them a legacy in the form of charity, police said on Monday.

Emmanuel Henry, a resident of Cape Town in South Africa, was arrested on Saturday from a hotel in central Delhi's Paharganj area.

Henry was held after a victim Marella Venkataraman, from Andhra Pradesh, informed the police about his presence in the hotel.

According to police, Venkataraman in September, 2014, had received an e-mail wherein the sender of the mail, a woman, lured him and cheated him later of Rs.6 lakh.

"The woman lured him by telling him that she is suffering from a deadly disease and has found his e-mail address online. She said that she wants to donate her money for charity purpose and so she will give him $8.5 million," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Parmaditya.

In the e-mail, it was mentioned that the woman's lawyer Michael Nelson would facilitate the victim in completing the formalities for money transfer, the police officer said.

Subsequently, Nelson called the complainant and informed him that since $8.5 million were to be transferred through Reserve Bank of India, certain taxes were to be paid in advance and thus he demanded Rs.6 lakh.

"The complainant deposited the money in various accounts. Now, Nelson called him to Delhi to receive the package and also asked him to deposit Rs.67,000 in an account," the officer said.

The officer said the complainant deposited the money but he began having some doubts and made a call to the police when Nelson's representative Henry reached the hotel to deliver the dollars.

A police team raided the hotel, arrested Henry and recovered a safe containing 36 bundles of US dollars which appeared to be fake.

Henry disclosed that during his visit in India in October, 2014, he met Nelson and they became friends.

"Nelson told Henry about his business of cheating gullible people on the pretext of providing them dollars. In order to earn quick money, he joined the gang," the officer said.

Police said Henry was in the garments business and previously used to visit India to buy T-shirts from Chennai.