YouTuber poses as cop, dupes her of ₹19 lakhs; arrested

She used to follow his YouTube channel and commented on one of his posts. Afterward, they exchanged mobile numbers and started chatting about a year ago

Mumbai: A 27-year-old YouTuber was arrested in Delhi and brought to Mumbai on Friday for allegedly impersonating a police officer to dupe a Mumbai resident of ₹19 lakh. He has been remanded in police custody till Wednesday. The problem started in November last year when the accused asked the woman for some money. She initially transferred the amount but when the demands kept increasing, she refused. The accused then started threatening her to extract the money.

In November last year, the accused asked the woman for monetary help for medical treatment. (Representational Photo)

The accused is identified as Piyush K, a YouTuber with more than half a million followers on social media. He lives in Delhi and creates prank videos to post on social media, said a police officer.

According to the police, the complainant is a 45-year-old woman residing in the northern suburbs of Mumbai. She used to follow his YouTube channel and commented on one of his posts. Afterward, they exchanged mobile numbers and started chatting about a year ago, a police officer said.

In November last year, the accused asked the woman for monetary help for medical treatment. The woman then gave him ₹1 lakh, said a police officer. A month later, borrowing money from the woman, stating various reasons, had become a regular practice for the accused. As the demands continued to increase, the woman refused to lend any more money.

The accused then allegedly threatened to reveal their chats on social media if she didn’t transfer the money he had asked for. He claimed that he was a police officer and would arrest her using his power, the police said. Fearing this, the woman made multiple transactions amounting to ₹19 lakh.

When her savings were exhausted, she approached the North Cyber police in May and registered a complaint. The police booked the accused under section 204 (impersonating a public servant), 319 (offense of cheating by personation), 318 (cheating) of the BNS, along with relevant sections of the IT Act.

“We investigated the matter and based on the technical evidence and transactions, the accused was arrested in Delhi and brought to Mumbai,” the police said.