Story:
Beware of Herbal Seed Fraud by International Gangs like Nigerians and others.
Facts Analysis:
Scammers from International Gangs like from Nigeria have come up with a new way to cheat gullible netizens in countries like India. Yes, beware of the Herbal Seed Fraud that is happening in India since at least 2015. The fraudsters operating through social media websites and online dating platforms have looted Crores of rupees from Indians.
How the Herbal Seed Fraud Works
Typically, a woman befriends the gullible target on social media site. Then she proposes a lucrative business of exporting Indian herbal seeds having medicinal value. Consequently, the people involved in fraud pose as diplomats having ‘partnerships’ with multinational companies and herbal seed businesses. They convince certain herbal seeds in India have great medicinal value that can cure diseases like Cancer, HIV, Tuberculosis and Obesity.
The scammers trick the people to become mediators and help them export the herbal seeds from India to International Pharmaceutical companies, like in United Kingdom. They lure the targets with huge profits for the export deal and also provide the information where to buy the herbal seeds from rural areas. The catch is – the person selling the seeds happens to be part of the fraud gang, who sells ordinary cheap seeds – packaged well – as costly herbal seeds. Another man from the gang can also visit the person to ‘inspect’ the seeds. In between all these processes, the unsuspecting person will be paying and losing lot of money to the fraudsters.
Victims in India
In early 2018 an Indian businessman from Bangalore lost Rs 24.7 lakh to the herbal seed scammers through online transactions. In his case, a woman lured him on Facebook and suggested procuring and exporting Nkume herbal root seeds from India. Earlier in 2017, Andheri (City in Maharashtra) businessman lost Rs 1.8 crore to similar herbal seed fraud by Nigerians. In another case of herbal seed business, Nigerian Anigbogu Kelly was arrested for allegedly duping a Delhi man of Rs 5 lakh. In fact, the fraudsters have looted crores of rupees from citizens across India.
Cybercrime officials say the whole seed business is a racket mostly run by Nigerian nationals with the help of their Indian conduits. They operate from different cities and loot money from unsuspecting people through online banking transactions. In general, the herbal seed fraudsters prefer to talk to people through WhatsApp calls to avoid coming in police net.
Cybercrime officials stress people on the need to exercise caution in any such lucrative business offers from unknown people online.
0 Comments