Rajasthan man held for creating fake profile of dist collector Deshmukh, conning people

The arrest comes after three months of investigation by the Pune Cyber Cell, following the complaint from a Hadapsar-based man who fell victim to the scam

PUNE:

The suspect is accused of using this fraudulent account to dupe people. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

The Cyber Cell of the Pune City Police has apprehended an individual from Alwar district in Rajasthan for allegedly creating a fake social media account impersonating the Pune District Collector Rajesh Deshmukh. The suspect is accused of using this fraudulent account to dupe people.

The accused, Shahrukh Khan 23, was arrested on Thursday from Khanjad Wadi village in Alwar.

The arrest comes after three months of investigation by the Pune Cyber Cell, following the complaint from a Hadapsar-based man who fell victim to the scam. According to the police, the impersonator manipulated the fake social media account to disseminate false information, make fraudulent promises, and extract money from residents under various pretexts.

According to Police, in June 2023 the accused created a fake social media account of Deshmukh. The deceptive account gained a substantial following as people believed they were following the account of the genuine District Collector of Pune.

As per the complaint filed by Yogesh Borse from Hadapsar, on 22 June, the accused added a post on the social media account of Deshmukh that his friend Santosh Kumar has been transferred to CRPF hence he wants to sell his furniture at a much reasonable rate. The complainant approached the accused and finalized a deal of ₹70,000.

Shriniwas Ghadge, DCP (Cyber and EOW) said, “After technical analysis, we came to know that the accused was from Alwar in Rajasthan district. We sent our team to Alwar on October 2 and arrested one accused in this case.’’

DCP Ghadge further added, “We urge citizens to remain cautious and verify the authenticity of online accounts before engaging with them.”