Gurugram, Apr 3 (IANS): A Nigerian national was arrested for allegedly duping a woman of Rs 1.73 lakh by befriending her on a matrimonial site and asking her to pay customs duty to receive expensive gifts, police said.

Police said on Monday, the incident came to light following a complaint given by the victim on March 31.

The complainant had received a friend request on the matrimonial site from a man claiming to be from India but presently working in Turkey as a project manager. She soon shared an overseas mobile number with him and soon she received an online call.

A person who claimed to be calling from Mumbai Airport told her that a man Shiva Jadhav (One of the accomplices about whom the accused had informed the victim) sent a parcel for her, the man claimed that custom duty needs to be paid for the release of the parcel. She paid this person Rs 38,500 and the woman finally ended up paying Rs 1.73 lakh in total, police added.

Once the complaint realised she had been cheated, she complained to the cyber crime police station (south).

Following an investigation and technical analysis of the mobile number, the police arrested the accused, who was a Nigerian national identified as Ignatus Ngosine.

"The accused revealed that he used to befriend the victims on matrimonial sites and one of his accomplices used to further pose as Customs Department officials and implicate victims into paying custom duty charges into their shared bank accounts to release the gifts," they added.