Hindustan Times — A 38-year-old man of Nigerian origin was arrested for cheating a mechanical engineer to the tune of Rs 15 lakh (over N4.6 million) using the infamous ‘Black Dollar’ route, police said on Wednesday.

Chhaya Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (south) said Evan Tony from Ubiaja in Nigeria, who carries two passports including one issued fraudulently from Congo, had cheated one Ravi Monga from east Delhi’s Kondli after declaring him the winner of an internet lottery worth Rs 12 crore.

“On November 15, the complainant alleged that he had been cheated by some people of R15 lakh on the pretext of winning Rs 12 crore in an internet lottery. The transaction of initial amount of Rs 15,000 (over N46,000) had taken place at PVR Saket where he had met the accused,” said Sharma.

The first transaction had been in connection with depositing ‘customs clearance charges’ due against the delivery of a consignment of lottery money to be received at the airport.

The complainant had remained in constant touch with his seeming benefactor. “He had credited approximately Rs 5 lakh (N1,537,990) in various accounts of the conman and had paid him Rs 10 lakh (N3,075,970) in cash. Once, he was called to a hotel in Bangalore where he was handed an iron safe containing black pounds, allegedly coated with chemical, and worth Rs 12 crore or (over N370 million),” Sharma added.

The conman, police said, cleaned some sample notes covered with a black chemical substance in his presence. These notes turned-out to be British pounds in denominations of 50.

“Monga was asked to lure the gang to collect another consignment of money. The conman were apprehended immediately after he de-boarded a GoAir flight from Mumbai at the Delhi airport on Tuesday,” added Sharma.