BALURGHAT: A man from Balurghat’s Saheb Kachari area has reportedly been duped of Rs 10,000 after fraudsters created a fake Facebook profile using the identity of a police officer. The victim, identified as Jyoti Bikash Dutta, an employee of a private firm, lodged a written complaint with the Cyber Crime Police Station on Saturday.
According to police sources, a few days ago, Jyoti received a friend request from a Facebook profile bearing the name and photo of a police officer he knew. Believing it to be genuine, he accepted the request and even had several friendly conversations with the person.
Later, the fraudster contacted him again through the same profile, claiming to be helping a CRPF jawan who had recently been transferred to Jammu and Kashmir and wanted to sell his household furniture for Rs 80,000.
The impostor convinced Jyoti to pay Rs 10,000 in advance to reserve the items. After sending the money, Jyoti was unable to contact the person again and soon realised he had been cheated.
Speaking to reporters, Jyoti said: “I trusted the person as the name and photo matched a police officer I knew.
Later, I realised the Facebook account was fake and that my money had been taken through deception.”
Acting on his complaint, the Cyber Crime Police have begun an investigation. DSP (Headquarters) Bikram Prasad said: “The matter is under investigation and necessary steps are being taken to trace the culprits.”