Galumje who was residing in the Kishan Garh area of South Delhi, India, was said to have befriended the women through social media and matrimonial websites, where he introduced himself as a non-resident Indian (NRI) living in Canada.
Officials of the Uttar Pradesh Police in India on Friday, May 27 said they arrested a 38-year-old Nigerian man identified as Garuba Galumje, for duping no fewer than 300 women after pretending and promising to marry them.
Galumje who was residing in the Kishan Garh area of South Delhi, India, was said to have befriended the women through social media and matrimonial websites, where he introduced himself as a non-resident Indian (NRI) living in Canada.
He was arrested by officials of the cybercrime police station in Noida, Uttar Pradesh state of India.
Announcing Galumje’s arrest, Inspector Reeta Yadav, in charge of the Noida cybercrime police station said, “The accused has been arrested in connection with a complaint from a woman who lives in Meerut district of UP.
He claimed that she had registered herself on Jeevansathi website for marriage. A man approached her through the website and introduced himself as Indo-Canadian NRI Sanjay Singh.
“The man eventually gained her confidence and made emotional appeals as he tricked her into transferring Rs 60 lakh in multiple installments into his various bank accounts before she realised the fraud,” Yadav told reporters.
The police chief said that when the matter was brought to police, they conducted an investigation and tracked Galumje and found out that he was operating from Delhi where he was arrested.
“During questioning, we came across multiple similar cases involving Garuba. There are over 300 women who he had targeted through various popular websites and defrauded of money. On social media and matrimonial websites, he used profile pictures of smart-looking men and not his own in order to dupe women,” Yadav said.
Inspector Yadav said that Galumje had first come to India in February 2019 on a six-month visa in connection with a business related to human hair and ready-made garments.
After that, he was in India on March 18, 2022, on a medical visa till May 22 but had overstayed and had relocated himself several times during the period.
"Garuba has been transferring the fraud money to his family members in Nigeria through international money exchange services," the police said.
The police inspector said that they recovered a passport, seven mobile phones, 15 photocopies of documents, which included forged letters in the names of Bank of Thailand, National Bank of Dubai, Interpol, US Department of State and FBI when they arrested Galumje.
An FIR has been lodged against the accused under Indian Penal Code 406 (criminal breach of trust), 419 (cheating by impersonation) and Sections 420 (cheating), and under provisions of the Information Technology Act.