HYDERABAD: A 17-year-old boy, who created a fake Facebook profile of Rajya Sabha MP J Santosh Kumar and collected money, was arrested by the Cyberabad police on Friday. The juvenile belongs to Uttar Pradesh. A complaint was lodged with the Cyberabad police by a citizen saying he received a FB friend request from an ID which carried the MP’s name.
The teenager chatted in Hindi with those who accepted his FB friend request and sought a sum of `50,000 by giving Google Pay numbers. As far as the police know, the teenager has conned three persons already. When he tried it for the fourth time, the citizen messaged MP Santosh Kumar asking if it was indeed him seeking the money.
The juvenile fraudster said the money was required for a friend’s daughter’s medical expenses in Bhopal. When the MP came to know of this, a police complaint was immediately lodged. The UP teenager is said to have told the police that he used to collect information about VIPs across India by observing them on social media. Following this, he would open FB accounts and lure innocent followers of politicians into parting with their money. FB users would think that the money they were giving was indeed being used to help someone.