Five Nigerians and a local woman have been arrested for allegedly cheating a Hyderabad-based B Tech student to the tune of Rs 18.73 lakh by luring him through an email that claimed he had won a prize money of 7.5 lakh pounds, police said today.

They were apprehended from the metropolis by Hyderabad Police with assistance from their Mumbai counterparts.

Believing them, the victim, G Amit Kumar, deposited Rs 18.73 lakh in cash on different occasions since March to get the reward money, which he never received.

In the first week of April, the 19-year-old realised he had been cheated and lodged a complaint with Hyderabad's Cyber Crime Police Station. The student had arranged money by withdrawing from his father's Provident Fund, police said.

The accused, Oazee Ewemade (32), Edoja Kennedy (34), Inneath Ambrose Amadin (32), Charles Omage (32), Emmanual Uyi (31), all Nigerians and Pooja Karmokar were nabbed on Saturday from their room in Mumbai's MIDC area and produced before a local court the next day when Hyderabad Police were granted their transit remand of four days.

Amit had in March received an email stating he was randomly picked up as the winner for 7.5 lakh pounds.

"Amit was told to give all his personal details. The accused then called up Amit on his mobile phone and asked him to deposit a certain amount of money in an ICICI bank account number in Hyderabad which would be used for clearance of his prize money," said Shashank Sandbhore, an Inspector with Mumbai Police's Crime Intelligence Unit.

"Amit was again asked to deposit certain amount. In this manner, the victim had on different occasions deposited up to Rs 18.73 lakh," Sandbhore said.

After the complaint, a Hyderabad police team came to Mumbai last week on getting information that the accused had been operating from the financial capital.

With the help of Mumbai Police, a trap was laid and the accused were rounded up from MIDC area. Further probe is on.