Pimpri Chinchwad police have booked unidentified fraudsters for allegedly cloning a Facebook (FB) account of a man and using it for fraudulently seeking money from his friends and colleagues.
The victim, a 51-year-old man residing in H A Colony, Pimpri, has lodged the first information report (FIR) in this case at the Pimpri police station on Sunday.
As per a press release issued on Monday, a fraudster allegedly created a FB account similar to that of the FB account of the complainant. Police said that using the “cloned FB account”, the fraudster sent messages to the persons in the complainant’s friend list on Saturday.
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Police said the fraudulent messages stated that the complainant is in need of money and then sought Rs 10,000 from his friends.
The fraudster allegedly shared details of a bank account and asked the complainant’s friends to transfer money into it. Also, police said that as per the complaint, the fraudster also allegedly contacted some of the complainant’s friend through WhatsApp.
The fraudster allegedly kept the complainant’s photograph as a profile picture on the WhatsApp number used for contacting his friends. Police said fraudulent messages seeking money also sent from this WhatsApp number asking the complainant’s friends to transfer money into a bank account and through Google Pay.
Police have booked the unidentified accused persons under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Information Technology Act. Police inspector Badesab Naikwadi of Pimpri police station is investigating the case.
