BENGALURU: The Adugodi police arrested seven accused who cheated a man by sending a fake friend request on social media and defrauded him of Rs 1.5 lakh.
The accused have been identified as Azharuddin, Mohammed Mudassir, Imtiaz Pasha, Shashi Kumar, Syed Khasif, Syed Danish and Shafiullah Sharif, all residents of Mysuru and in their early 30s.
The police said that the accused sent a friend request on a social media platform using a fake profile picture of the victim’s old friend. Believing the request was genuine, the victim accepted it. The fraudster claimed to be in Dubai and told the victim that he would soon be returning to India.
To avoid taxes, he said he would transfer Rs 7.85 lakh to the victim’s bank account and collect the money after returning to Bengaluru. He assured the victim that the amount would be credited within 24 hours and sent a receipt claiming that the transfer had been made.
The following day, the fraudster sent a text message to the victim claiming to be in a police station in Abu Dhabi and in trouble. He requested Rs 1.9 lakh to be transferred to an agent’s account. Trusting him, the victim transferred Rs 1.5 lakh via an immediate payment service.
Later, upon checking the bank statement, the victim realised that no money had been credited to the account and filed a complaint, the police said.
The police further added that after analysing bank transactions and other technical evidence, one of the accused was arrested in Mysuru. Upon questioning, he revealed the involvement of six others, who were arrested and recovered 31 ATM cards, nine Aadhaar cards, and 11 passbook and six chequebooks.