1 held on SMS-online lottery scam

Staff Reporter DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 14 A complaint received from ICICI Bank Dimapur branch regarding a saving account which reflected strange transaction patterns involving huge sums in a short period of time, led the personnel of West Police Station Dimapur to apprehend one man opening multiple banks accounts using fake documents. The accused identified as Vitoka (26 years), resident of Boro-Lengri, Karbi-Anglong was arrested on September 4. According to the West Police Station officer in-charge (OC) the investigation revealed a racket with strong links to the Nigerian SMS-online lottery scam. It was discovered that the accused had opened as many as ten accounts at Dimapur branches of the State bank of India, Union Bank and the Punjab National Bank using fake papers. The pass books and confidential access codes to the accounts were shared with a suspected Nigerian national, the OC said. These accounts were then used to route money to a ‘nostro account’ based in New York, USA, allegedly held by a man named Lyle Graham. An amount of Rs. 4.57 lakhs is said to have been transferred to the ‘nostro account’ through the accounts opened in Dimapur. The whereabouts of Lyle Graham is yet to be established. The West Police Station,OC pointed out that the abnormal address of an accounts entered as “Purana Bazar, Notun basti, Dimapur” raised suspicion during screening by the bank of its new accounts. With the arrest of Vitoka and establishment of the facts the OC said his other illicit accounts were frozen. Vitoka has been charged and booked under section 403, 420 of the Indian Penal Code, respectively.