Kathmandu, August 10

The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police has arrested a person for allegedly defrauding several people with the promise of getting them US visa.

According to CIB, Prasanna Khati, 27, of Dillibazar was held from Makalbari yesterday. He had been residing in Gokarneshwor Municipality-2. Khati had collected two million rupees from one victim for ‘visa processing’, posing as an employee of Discovery Channel based in Florida, USA. Khati befriended the victim on Facebook and drew him into his deception.

CIB has confiscated a fake ID card of Discovery Channel from Khati. “Khati also showed the victim a fake US visa to swindle him,” Superintendent of Police Sanuram Bhattarai said.

In another instance, Khati defrauded a person of Rs 2.5 million, promising him handsome amount from a fund in the US Embassy to run a project.

“He lured many people convincing them that he had a good rapport with high-level diplomats at the US Embassy and also told unwary persons that he was going to receive USD 1,000,010 from the Carter Centre Nepal Foundation,” SP Bhattarai informed.

Khati was also involved in creating and misusing fake ID cards, fake visa of various countries, fake bank statement and fake email ID of Nepal-based high-level diplomats by using fake barcode (QR code) to take the victims into confidence.

According to CIB, he was planning to run a ‘black dollar scam’ or ‘wash dollar scam’ to cheat people. Also called ‘black money scam’, it is a tactic to obtain money from unsuspecting people by persuading them that piles of banknote-sized paper are actually currency notes that have been dyed to avoid detection by authorities.

The victims are convinced to provide money to buy chemicals to remove the dye with the promise of its share.