Kathmandu, March 19 Nepal police on Thursday arrested seven people, including six Indians, for running a fake travel lottery scam.
Those arrested include Bibek Regmi, 26, a Nepali national from the Saptari district, currently residing in Gatthaghar, Thimi of the Bhaktapur district, and Indian nationals Hussain Sayed, 39, Sajid Omar Sayed, 44, Mohamad Imran, 34, Mirkhalid Hussain, 33, Rajak Mohmad, 40, and Samada Giri, 42, all from Telangana, Hyderabad.
According to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, they are currently residing in the Mahalaxmi Municipality of the Lalitpur district.
The arrested individuals were defrauding hundreds of Nepalese through a fake lottery scam, in which the victims were told they had won a lottery to visit various destinations in Asia, Europe, and Africa from Sheertel Holidays Pvt. Ltd.
The police said that they defrauded 328 Nepalese citizens and collected 27.65 million NPR under the pretext of issuing cheap holiday packages through lottery.
The police also added that they had hired 30 Nepalese staff to run their lottery racket.
The police recovered over 700,000 NPR in cash, one Dell computer, one Asus laptop, one Redme tablet, eight mobile sets, 7 Indian SIM cards, and eight Indian passports from those arrested.
The travel agents received payments from clients for booking holiday packages at discounted rates through lotteries; however, none of the clients were able to visit the said destinations nor receive any refunds.
The police have initiated further investigation into the matter after taking them into custody.