Two Nigerian nationals were detained in India for defrauding women online.

Two Nigerian nationals were detained in Delhi, India, on suspicion of defrauding women they had made friends with on social media.

The accused, identified as Raphael,19, and Evans [b]Chukwudi, 20, live in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, police said on Wednesday, October 19, 2022.

The police said they received a complaint from a woman from Tri Nagar alleging that she was duped of Rs 149,100 by one Deepak Kumar, who she was friends with on social media.

The woman alleged that a few days after she became friends with the accused, he pretended to send her costly gifts.

The following day, she received a call from someone claiming to be a customs official from the airport.

The ‘customs official’ instructed her to transfer money for “clearance” of a gift, a senior police officer said.

The complainant transferred Rs 149,100 into his account as ‘customs duty and foreign currency conversion charges’, the officer said.

The police then conducted a raid in Tilak Nagar and nabbed the accused, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said.

The two Nigerian nationals arrived in India in 2022 for medical treatment and started scamming people through social media, she said.

They revealed that they befriended women on social media and induced them to pay large amounts on the pretext of customs duty and foreign currency conversion charge on costly gifts and jewellery, the police said.

Five mobile phones and SIM cards were recovered from the suspects.