The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has arrested an Indian and a Chinese national for conning several Nepalis through a lottery scam. The bureau is also after a Nigerian man who is believed to be the mastermind of the racket.

According to CIB spokesperson SP Sudip Giri, 39-year-old Amit Kumar of India and 49-year-old Wang Hongxia of China were arrested from Kathmandu on April 10 and 12 respectively.

Investigation also revealed that Amit was employed by a guest house in Gaushala and Wang owned a restaurant in Thamel.

Police said Amit, Wang and the Nigerian man had conned many of their unwitting victims by sending messages to them saying that they had won a lottery and that they must pay a certain fee to get the winning sum.

The trio has been charged with fraud totalling Rs 4,039,419.

“The Nigerian national used to send false message to people on Facebook, Whatsapp, Viber and IMO asking them to deposit a certain amount of cash in the provided bank accounts if they wanted to receive the winning lottery amount,” Giri told the Post.

The bank accounts— 3787010549052401 of NIC Asia Bank, 03907842830013 of Himalayan Bank and 0543000015815241 of Bank of Kathmandu— were held by Amit.

In the recent times, police said the trio had been sending messages to random people saying that they had been selected for “Ko Banchha Crorepati” —the Nepali version of popular game show franchise “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”— and asking for a fee to enter the show.

“The group seems to have been cheating Nepalis for a long time. Complaints are still coming from people who were conned,” Giri said.

Meanwhile, the CIB has requested the people to contact police if they receive any suspicious messages.