A Nigerian man alongside his three accomplices have been arrested by the Cyber Crimes Unit of Hyderabad in India for allegedly cheating a pharmaceutical researcher and manufacturer of Rs 87 lakhs.

The accused identified as Vincent Ibhaduwede (37), from Nigeria, Shakil (34), Arvind Mishra (45) and Saifullah Khan (53) were arrested on Friday, June 16, 2023, and a case was registered under the Indian Penal Code, police said on Saturday.

The main accused, Christopher, absconding, was the kingpin posing as ‘Dr Arthur Williams’ of Lexo Pharma company of US.

Christopher emailed the complainant, a pharma researcher and manufacturer from Tarnaka in February 2023, proposing a business opportunity involving supply of 2000 packets of ‘cissus populnea’ (used to treat venereal, stomach and skin infections) stems each month, as per the police.

The complainant believed the offer to be genuine. To establish credibility, the complainant was initially asked to purchase three packets of Cissus Populnea stems as a sample from a fictitious supplier, Monika Sharma, for which he transferred 1.4 lakh into the bank account of a fictitious company, Siya Enterprises, linked to Monika.

These samples were handed over to a Delhi-based African national, Danny.

The fraudsters then persuaded the complainant to make a payment of 87 lahks into Siya Enterprises between March and May 2023 for the 2000 packets.

The amount was withdrawn by Shakil and Mishra and handed to Vincent who sent it to Christopher. Saifullah created a bank account under Siya Enterprises using forged documents.

As the accused stopped responding to messages and emails, the pharma firm owner lodged a police complaint on May 16.