Case registered for seeking money through fake duplicate Facebook profile

A resident of Greater Noida has alleged that someone created a fake account using his name and photograph on a social media platform, and tried to dupe his friends

A resident of Greater Noida has alleged that someone created a fake account using his name and photograph on a social media platform, and tried to dupe his friends and acquaintances.

HT Image

The complainant, Arjun Singh Rawat, a resident of Jaypee Greens, lodged an FIR in Sector Beta 2 police station on Monday.

Rawat said the suspect took his profile picture from his Facebook account. “The suspect made an account similar to mine on Facebook and sent requests to some of my friends. The suspect then started asking people for money, claiming a medical emergency during the lockdown,” he said.

Rawat got wind of this fraud when one of his friends, Vivek Bansal, informed he had transferred Rs 2,500 to the account number the suspect had given him.

“Rawat told his friend that he had not made any such request. His friend then told him that he received a request on Facebook and transferred the money accordingly. Later, the complainant found out that somebody had made a duplicate profile and was asking people for money,” said Sujeet Upadhyaya, station house officer, Sector Beta 2 police station. The victim then filed a complaint in the local police station.

Police have registered a case against the suspect under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 of the IT Act. “We do not know the number of people the suspect has cheated. We have contacted the cyber cell to trace the suspect using the IP address and bank account details. The suspect will be arrested soon,” Upadhyaya said.

The Gautam Budh Nagar police department had, last week, issued an advisory and urged the public to be wary of cyber fraud amid the ongoing lockdown.