The Nigerian online cheating mafia which has adopted a new method of sending SMSes to cheat unsuspecting people may have bought the mobile phone number data from local companies.
The mafia dupes people of lakhs of rupees by saying that their numbers have won a lottery jackpot.
‘’Sales and marketing companies selling credit cards, insurance, demat accounts and also banks offering loans through phones get the data of mobile phone numbers from a few companies. The Nigerian syndicate is using the same data bought from these companies to dupe people,’’ a police officer said.
The Powai police have started interrogating Marcus Bruno, who was arrested on Monday for allegedly cheating income-tax officer Ajay Kumar Singh. Singh has alleged that Bruno and his associates have cheated him of Rs5.6 lakh.
The police suspect a group of people from Delhi and Mumbai run the racket.
Vijay Mukhi, president, Technology for Corporate Governance, said earlier the mafia targeted people throughout the world by sending emails, but now they have identified metros in India as potential places where they can easily cheat people and make money.
“They have now joined hands with locals and set up their databse in big cities from where they operate,’’ he added.
