Bangalore police arrest Ghana national in e-mail scam

In a swift operation, the police arrested a 32-year-old person from Ghana in West Africa at the Bangalore International Airport for cheating a resident of Bangalore in an e-mail scam.

A team of policemen from Bangalore nabbed John K Brown soon after he arrived at the airport in a flight from New Delhi late on Tuesday night on the basis of a complaint from Muralikrishna, a resident of Maruthi Nagar in the City, who had been cheated to the tune of Rs 650,000.

The victim Muralikrishna told the police that he had received an e-mail in July last year from a woman Joyce, who had sought his assistance to claim $ 7.5 million that her father had deposited in a bank in Scotland before he was killed in a civil war in Ivory Coast.

When Muralikrishna responded to the e-mail, Joyce said her barrister Bedie Kalto will get in touch with him. Accordingly, one Kalto claiming to be a barrister offered Muralikrishna the Power of Attorney and asked him to deposit Rs 100,000 in bank in Mumbai for the same.

After Muralikrishna deposited the amount, obtained the power of attorney and sent it to the bank, Kalto asked Muralikrishna to deposit another Rs 550,000 for the clearance certificate. “I paid that amount also. But, when Kalto asked to pay up another Rs 850,000 for clearance of the amount, I smelt a rat. It soon dawned on me that I had been taken for a ride”, Muralikrishna said.

He lodged a complaint with the Bangalore City police in the regard. Acting on the instruction of the police, Muralikrishna told Kalto to collect the money in person as the demand drafts and cheques were causing needless delay. Kalto agreed to send a messenger for the same, but asked Muralikrishna to bear the travelling and other expenses.

As told by Kalto, his messenger Brown arrived at Bangalore International airport by a private flight late on Tuesday night and met Muralikrishna. Even as Brown was asking Muralikrishna to hand over the money quickly as he had to return to Delhi by the next available flight, a team of policemen arrested him.

“Kalto called me around 20 times on Wednesday and requested me to free to Brown. But, I said that I will withdraw the case only after getting my money back”, Muralikrishna said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), Bangalore, Harisekharan told reporters that Brown was not carrying either his passport or a visa. “It is still not clear how and when he landed in India. He says he lost his passport and visa and a complaint has been lodged with Bhopal police”, Harisekharan said.