The Cyber Crime Wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) Chennai, India has busted a commodity scam and arrested the prime accused, who is suspected to be part of a network of Nigerian nationals.

The accused Nigerian identified as Fulgens Quadio alias Kristopher Wilmer, 27, was arrested in Mumbai on Thursday, December 24.

According to police, in 2019, a complainant, K.M. Joseph of Kilpauk, Chennai alleged that he had received a Facebook message from an unknown person claiming to be Elizabeth from the UK, who owns a pharmaceutical company.

‘Elizabeth’ said she needed Folic oil, which would be used to cure blood cancer, and she offered the complainant a business deal to export Folic oil from India and gave the contact details of a dealer/manufacturer of Folic oil in Mumbai, who was Sunitha of Star Enterprises.

Believing this to be genuine, Mr. Joseph contacted Sunitha and deposited 40 lakh for exports.

Later, he realised that he had been cheated and hence he had lodged a complaint with the then Chennai City Police Commissioner and a case was registered by the Central Crime Branch and was taken up for investigation.

After investigation, a special team of police personnel arrested the accused in Mumbai. He was taken to Chennai by air and produced by the special team before a court. He was remanded for 15 days.

The Chennai City Cyber Crime Cell Police have advised the general public and businessmen not to invest money in these sort of commodity scams.

“Further investigation will reveal more details such as who were involved, the number of victims and complaints in the city. As per our preliminary investigation, Wilmer is suspected to be a part of larger network.” said a senior police officer.