he involvement of Nigerians in phishing and other online financial frauds is so well documented that the genre of crimes that began in the early 1980s is named the Nigerian scam. Now, Chennai police is searching for a Nigerian for online fishing of a different kind.
A 54-year-old man from Pattabhiram on Friday approached the police with a complaint that his 21-year-old daughter was missing and that he suspected a Nigerian named King has kidnapped her. The foreigner, he said, had been chatting with her on the internet for several months. Vanitha (not the real name), the missing woman, was at home after completing her graduation in social work from a city college. She used to spend long hours in front of the computer. In one of the chat rooms, she met the man who introduced himself as King alias Dasingh from Nigeria, now settled in Delhi.
"My daughter has gone missing since Friday. I have reasons to believe that the Nigerian has kidnapped her," the parents told the police. The police, however, has filed only a case of missing person. They said it appears to be a case of elopement, as the father has also complained that the woman has taken with her Rs 2 lakh worth of gold jewellery.
A police officer said there was an earlier complaint from the woman's father who claimed that the Nigerian was troubling his daughter. "On questioning, she told us that she was in love with the Nigerian and that she, as an adult, has the right to chose her man. It is clear that they have eloped. However, we are trying to trace the couple based on the complaint," the police officer said.
According to Vanitha's father, she was in her night dress and had retired to bed after dinner. In the morning, Vanitha was not to be seen and the backdoor of the house was found ajar. Police said the woman must have been wearing her night dress over another dress and had packed up to escape after her parents went to bed. "From preliminary inquiries, we feel she must have taken the 3.30 am Avadi- Chennai Central train to Central, where she must have met the man," the officer said. One of Vanitha's friends, when questioned by the police, said Vanitha used to talk a lot about King, her Nigerian boyfriend.