A 47-year-old Taekwondo trainer recently fell prey to fake social media profile fraud. The victim was contacted by a man impersonating his grandmaster, from whom he had received Taekwondo training. The imposter asked the victim for money, claiming it was to help his friend's ailing mother meet medical expenses. The unsuspecting victim paid the money through online transactions and later realized that he had been duped.
Details of the scam
According to the police, on November 9, when the victim was at his Dongri home, he received a Facebook friend request from an account he thought belonged to his coach. He accepted the friend request. After a few hours, the victim received a message on Facebook Messenger from the same account, asking for his WhatsApp number. The victim shared his number, and they began chatting.
Later, the fraudster informed the victim that his friend's mother was admitted to the hospital, and he needed to send money immediately. The scammer promised to return the money in a few days after returning to India. The scammer asked the victim to transfer Rs 1 lakh. When the victim expressed his inability to send that much money and offered to send only Rs 40,000, the victim sent the said amount to a number provided by the fraudster.
Trainer turns suspicious after fraudster asks for extra Rs 60,000
However, when the fraudster asked for an additional Rs 60,000, the victim became suspicious. He consulted another coach to confirm if the person demanding the money was genuine. It was then that the victim learned through the other coach that someone had created a Facebook profile of the victim's coach and had been asking for money. Realizing he had been cheated, the victim approached the police and got an offense registered in the matter last week.
The police have registered a case under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing the delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code, and 66C (identity theft) of the Information Technology Act.
