FIROZABAD: Tricksters tried to dupe a local BJP leader here of Rs 15,000 by raising demand of the money using a fake Facebook account of Uttar Pradesh Rural Development Minister Rajendra Singh alias Moti Singh, police said on Sunday.
Firozabad's Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar Pandey said local BJP leader Amit Gupta has lodged a complaint that someone tried to trick him into parting with the money by sending a request for it through a fake Facebook account of the minister, who is also the in-charge of the Firozabad district.
Quoting from Gupta's complaint, the SSP said the leader had received a friendship request on his Facebook account, and thinking it to be a genuine one of the minister, he accepted it.
But soon after accepting the friendship request, he got a mail on it demanding a sum of Rs 15,000, following which he contacted the minister's office and found that it was a fake account.
Gupta subsequently reported the matter to the police, which registered an FIR and transferred the case of the Cyber Cell of the UP police, said the SSP.