Making yet another arrest in the Social Media Marketing (SMM) fraud, the Mumbai Police's crime branch nabbed a 21-year-old IT professional from Rajasthan for his alleged involvement in the case. Police said that the role of Vijay Banthia, 21, was reflected during the questioning of another arrested accused.
The accused was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Thursday from his hometown in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, and brought to Mumbai on a transit remand. On Saturday, Banthia was produced in a local magistrate court, where he was sent to the custody of the crime branch for further probe till September 21.
According to police sources, Banthia's name cropped up during the investigation of another arrested accused, Kashif Tanwar. It was revealed that Banthia was operating several portals that provided fake followers, views, subscribers and likes to profiles on social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, police said.
The accused had allegedly completed approximately 9,000 orders and supplied lakhs of followers, views and likes. Moreover, the SIT has, so far, identified 79 portals engaged in supply of fake followers, views and likes, said police.
Earlier, the SIT had questioned Bollywood rapper Badshah in connection with the case and recorded the statement of the digital media marketing company's COO and two employees in this connection.
