Ballia (UP), Sep 18 (PTI) Three Nigerians were arrested for allegedly duping a woman of Rs 32 lakh by luring her with expensive gifts through social media, police here said on Monday.

The woman, a resident of an area under Sahatwar Police Station, had lodged a complaint of fraud on May 14, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Shiv Narayan Vais said.

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The victim alleged that one Lawrence Michael had befriended her on Instagram and cheated her of Rs 32 lakh promising to give her expensive gifts for her wedding.

A case was registered at Sahatwar Police Station under sections of the Indian Penal Code and IT Act on the basis of the complaint and three Nigerians – Chibuk Austin, Chimizi Justice, and Chimmakka Kizitto were arrested from Delhi on Saturday, he said.

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Seven mobile phones, two laptops, one router, four passports, eight SIMs, 100 fake IDs and passwords of Instagram and Facebook and contact numbers of about a thousand Indian people were recovered from their possession, he added.

The accused told police they all were students and had come to India on medical visa.

They, along with some persons, including women, from Mizoram and Nagaland, committed defrauded Indians and foreigners on the pretext of giving them expensive gifts and crores of rupees, the officer said.

The gang would convince people into opening bank accounts with them and would take money in them. They would later transfer the money to their Nigerian bank accounts, the officer said.

Their accomplices from Mizoram and Nagaland are still at large and are being looked for, he said.

Vais said police produced the three men in a court of Ballia from where they were sent to jail for 14 days' judicial custody.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)