PANAJI: Agasaim police arrested Kedar Hawal, 20, a native of Karnataka, for allegedly creating a fake account and demanding money from people.
Police said the accused sourced a girl’s photographs from her Instagram account and created a Facebook account and sent friend requests. Police said the girl did not have a Facebook account.
Agasaim PI Vijay Rane said Hawal then started chatting with the contacts and demanded money to purchase mobile phones and other items. The victims consequently began sending money as and when he demanded.
Rane said although victims had also tried meeting the accused, as he posed as a girl, he had always managed to evade them. The incident came to light when a victim known to the girl’s family approached her mother informing her that her daughter had demanded money from him on social media. When the girl denied it, her mother lodged a police complaint against an unidentified person. Rane said it took them 25 days to track Hawal before he was arrested.
Agasaim police said a Curca resident was cheated to the tune of Rs 7,600.
Rane said they have written to their counterparts in Karnataka and Maharashtra to take custody of the accused if similar cases are registered in their respective jurisdictions.