JOIN USMangaluru Police arrest imposter who cheated 13 people
The Mangaluru City Police arrested a man at a KSRTC bus stand in Mangaluru on charges of cheating people with false matrimonial alliances and job opportunities using over 20 fake Facebook accounts.
According to City Police Commissioner Vikash Kumar Vikash, Senior Superintendent of Posts Sriharsha N had lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police Station stating that one Parameshwarappa Rangappa is pretending as a senior postal officer in Mangaluru on Facebook, seeking a matrimonial alliance with the daughter of Hanumanthappa Bisalli from Goa. He had allegedly edited clippings of television channels using an app to portray himself as the winner of the Rajyotsava award and Meghadhoot award.
After verification, Hanumanthappa realised that there was no such person working in the Mangaluru postal department. Two constables in the City Armed Reserved Police had also complained to the cyber police that Parameshwarappa had cheated them out of over Rs 6 lakh, on the promise of Grade 1 and 2 officers' jobs in the department of posts using a fake Facebook account in the name of Pooja C N.
Following the complaints, the cyber police investigated and arrested Parameshwarappa in Mangaluru. During the interrogation, he had revealed that he had created over 20 Facebook accounts in various names. He would normally befriend senior officers from departments of posts, forests, police, KPTCL and education over social media platforms to build the credibility of his claims. After this, he would pretend to be the senior officer in the department of posts. He has cheated 13 people and collected Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh from them.
The cyber crime police have seized laptops, five mobile phones, and fake IDs of the postal department and ICICI Bank debit card, worth around Rs 1.35 lakh.