New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS): Delhi Police has arrested a 35-year-old foreign national, who posed as a girl and duped people after befriending them on WhatsApp, on pretext of releasing gifts by paying shipment charges and Customs duty, an official said on Wednesday.

The accused was identified as Prince Joe, who hails from Louis Estate, Accra Ghana, West Africa.

The arrest comes after a case was registered on July 11 after a complaint was received from one Govind Singh, who alleged that he had accepted a friend request on Instagram sent by a girl.

“During the conversation, he was informed by the girl that she had sent a gift for him on his birthday which comes July 10. However, on July 9, Singh received a call from an unknown mobile number wherein the caller informed him that his parcel had arrived and he had to pay Rs 27,300 as shipment charge for delivery of the parcel,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini), Guriqbal Singh Sidhu.

The caller also sent him an account number for the payment of money. Subsequently, Singh transferred the said amount into the given account number.

“After sometime, he again received a call from the same number who told him that the parcel has been caught by the Customs and he has to again pay Rs 31,500 for the clearance of parcel. Singh then realised that he was cheated,” said the DCP.

During the probe, the details of the money trail of the alleged transaction was obtained and analysed.

“The cheated amount was withdrawn from an ATM located in Khanpur Extension in Delhi. Based on the further technical analysis, the area of operation was zeroed down at Devli Road, Khanpur and Prince Joe was apprehended,” said the DCP.

On sustained questioning, the accused disclosed that he used to make fake female profiles on social media like Facebook and Instagram and send friend requests to male persons introducing himself as a foreigner.

“Efforts are being made to identify other victims cheated by the accused,” the official added.