In a major breakthrough in the probe into various online fraud cases registered in south India, a South African national has been arrested in Kochi in Kerala for allegedly duping people through online fraud.
The accused, identified as Daniel Benson, 32, from Johannesburg, was detained by a group of staff at a local hotel here after he failed to produce passport and other documents on arrival from Mumbai by a Go Air flight at the Kochi International airport at nearby Nedumbassery on Friday night, police said.
Though he tried to escape from the custody at midnight, police foiled his attempt.
During interrogation, police found Benson had allegedly cheated one person in Andhra Pradesh by convincing him that he
would get him a BMW car and 50,000 pounds and demanded Rs two lakhs as service charge to be remitted in a Mumbai branch of State Bank of India. The victim had remitted Rs 40,000, police said.
Benson had also allegedly tried to cheat an engineer of Thrissur in Kerala, they said adding a case was registered in this connection and investigation was on.