Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The Bhopal Police on Tuesday arrested four individuals from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and two from Alwar in Rajasthan for cheating people through fake Facebook profiles by impersonating the Bhopal Police Commissioner.
The incident came to light when the Cyber Crime Branch received a complaint from Mahesh Kumar, a Bhopal resident, on November 5, 2024. In his complaint, Kumar stated that he had received a message on Facebook Messenger offering lucrative deals on old furniture. The message was sent by a user named ‘Hari Narayan,’ whose profile picture featured the Bhopal Police Commissioner, Hari Narayanchari Mishra.
Believing the offer to be genuine, Kumar unsuspectingly transferred Rs 45,000 via a QR code sent to him on Messenger.
Based on the complaint, a case was registered for cheating and dishonesty and cheating by personation under Sections 318 (4) and 319 (2) of the BNS.
After tracking the number used to create the fake Facebook ID, the cyber cell tracked the fraudsters in Alwar and was subsequently picked up by a cybercrime unit. After probing them further, the police managed to track the rest of the gang, arresting four, including the kingpin, Akash Namdeo, from Vidisha district.
During the course of the investigation, the accused revealed that they used a fake profile with the picture of IPS officer Harinarayanachari Mishra, befriending people associated with his real Facebook profile.
The accused used to send pictures of expensive furniture to people, quoting cheaper prices in a bid to lure them.
They used to cheat people by transferring money to fake bank accounts. Namdeo, a resident of Lateri in Vidisha district, used to fraudulently activate SIM cards. The police have also arrested Rahul Panthi, Vivek Raghuvanshi and Sonu, who used to sell SIM cards to other members of the gang.
