Man who swindled people online held in Delhi

The Delhi Police has arrested a man who cheated and extorted money from a number of people using fake accounts in social media, a police officer said on Friday.

The arrested man has been identified as Akash Chowdhary, 34 -- a Commerce graduate hailing from Patna.

"After increasing the number of followers in social media using pictures of girls, Chowdhary used to contact companies for promotion of their products on his profile. One of his fake accounts had one million followers," Deputy Commissioner of Police Chinmoy Biswal said.

"The accused has so far duped around 10-12 persons after befriending them through social media. He had taken Rs 70,000 from a Mumbai-based businessman," Biswal said.

"Around seven companies making shoes, watches, sunglasses and clothes and a cab service provider were in contact with him. He would charge companies every month to promote their products on his fake Instagram account," he said.

One of the complainants, who filed an FIR this January, said when she approached the man asking him to remove her pictures from his account, she was told to share more pictures or else her pictures would be posted on escort services and similar other social media pages.

According to the police, Chowdhary had been working for a meat outlet in Gurugram, after working in a call centre.

Some electronic devices were recovered from his possession, Biswal added.

--IANS

umer/nir