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Social media ‘influencer’ among three held in two cyber crime cases
Posing as an Army official, Rawat advertised a fake tractor sale at an online marketplace which the complainant came across
New Delhi: Three men, including a 19-year-old “social media influencer”, were arrested from Lucknow in two separate cases of cyber frauds registered at central Delhi’s cyber police station, Delhi Police said on Sunday.
The three were identified as Hukum Singh Rawat, who has nearly one lakh followers on his social media account, and Alok Kumar (32) and Aditya Shukla (22).
“In the first case, Kumar and Shukla were linked to an interstate cyber crime syndicate that scammed people by offering fraudulent job offers. The duo would arrange bank accounts and sell them to cyber criminals for a share in the cheated money,” deputy commissioner of police (central) Nidhin Valsan said.
On October 6, Valsan said, 28-year-old Smita Verma filed a complaint that she received a remote job offer on a social media app which involved rating hotels. The woman was initially paid ₹150 and ₹90, but was later lured into investing money for “prepaid tasks”. She was eventually cheated of ₹31,800. A case was registered on Verma’s complaint and investigation was taken up.
“By analysing the transactions, police arrested Kumar and Shukla on October 7 and 12, respectively. Kumar, an e-rickshaw driver, posed as a property dealer and opened two bank accounts, which he sold to cyber criminals for a 1.5% commission. Shukla opened six bank accounts and sold them to the syndicate for 3–4% commission,” added Valsan.
In another case, Rawat was arrested on October 14 for duping one Dalip Kumar of over ₹1.8 lakh in June. Posing as an Army official, Rawat advertised a fake tractor sale at an online marketplace which the complainant came across. He transferred money to Rawat over several installments to purchase the “tractor” only to find out that he had been scammed.
“Rawat intended to use the proceeds to hire artists and purchase equipment to boost his social media profile,” said DCP Valsan.
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