Marriage Scam: Nigerian Man Dupes Indian Woman of Over ₦9m, Arrested in Mumbai

A 47-year-old Nigerian national has been arrested in Mumbai for allegedly duping a woman from Ilkal town in Karnataka’s Bagalkot district of Rs 5.5 lakh on the pretext of marriage.

Bagalkot Superintendent of Police Siddarth Goel confirmed that the accused, identified as Oliver Ugwu Okechukwu, was taken into custody by the CEN police on September 4. Okechukwu, a resident of Shivaji Nagar Bonkode Ganv, Khairane Thane in Mumbai, is accused of contacting women through matrimony sites, posing under false identities, and defrauding them.

Police said Okechukwu befriended a divorcee from Ilkal who was seeking remarriage and had uploaded her profile on a matrimonial platform. Introducing himself as “Satya Amit” from London, he promised to marry her. About 18 months ago, he told the woman he had arrived in India but that customs officers had seized US dollars worth Rs 1 crore from him. Claiming he needed money to recover the amount, he persuaded her to transfer Rs 5.5 lakh to a bank account he provided. Soon after receiving the funds, he stopped contacting her, prompting the victim to file a complaint with Bagalkot cybercrime police.

Investigations revealed Okechukwu was operating the account under a fake name. Further tracking of his digital transactions through PhonePe and Google Pay led police to Mumbai’s Uppar Khairane locality. CCTV footage from shops where he had made purchases helped confirm his identity.

During the arrest, police seized four mobile phones, a laptop, and a passport. Okechukwu was produced before a court and has been remanded to judicial custody. The investigation team included Additional SP Mahanteshwar Jiddi, DSP Girish Bhojannavar, and SI Rudrayya Hiremath.