UP man creates fake club on social media, dupes at least 80

A medical representative from Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh has been arrested for allegedly cheating as many as 80 people from the city and other parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat

Mumbai A medical representative from Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh has been arrested for allegedly cheating as many as 80 people from the city and other parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat in the name of a friendship club.

The police said that the accused Abhishek Kumar Dayashankar Singh, 29, would pose as a woman, approach men on social media and promise them physical relationship with elite class women and money (Shutterstock)

The police said that the accused Abhishek Kumar Dayashankar Singh, 29, would pose as a woman, approach men on social media and promise them physical relationship with elite class women and money.

The police said that they learnt about the ‘Geeta Friendship Club’ a few days ago. However, they had not received any complainants as the amount lost was meagre and people were also concerned about their reputation.

“We, therefore, took permission from joint commissioner of police, crime, Suhas Warke to register an offence on our own, based on the information we received,” said Manoj Sutar, police inspector from SS Branch.

He said that the accused Singh, who has earlier worked as a sales executive in a food products company and later became medical representative of a pharma company at Varanasi, had come in contact with some frauds and learnt tricks to cheat people online.

“If an advertisement is placed on a social media page with 2,000 members, at least 200 end up reading it and 50 revert and at least two are cheated,” said police sub-inspector Yogesh Kanherkar of SS Branch.

He said that the accused had hired a woman who used to call people. Once a person got in touch with her, initially he was asked to pay ₹1,500 towards joining fee. Later, the woman used to ask him to purchase a body massage kit which was mostly not available in the open market.

“For the kit, they used to ask the person to pay odd amounts like ₹6,300. Then they would decide a meeting point and the victim was asked to send a selfie after reaching the pre-decided hotel. The woman then used to call the person and used to tell him that madam was on her way to the hotel and till then he should pay the 20 per cent of what he will get from madam, as the agency commission” said Kanherkar.

The officer said they, however, used to secure the 20% commission in advance from the man. “Then they would ask for a refundable security deposit of ₹11,000 before madam reached the hotel. Many people paid the frauds without suspecting anything wrong, though several suspected foul play and did not,” said Kanherkar.

Through his bank accounts, the police said Singh has cheated more than 80 people so far. “We have booked him for cheating and common intention,” said Sutar. The police said they are searching for his accomplice.