Kochi: The cyber police have warned that incidents of Facebook honeytrap, targeting prominent people such as businessmen, doctors and even cops, have been on the rise.

Some people in Kerala lost up to Rs 20 lakh after falling prey to honeytrap.

Modus operandi

The culprits will befriend targeted people on Facebook. And beautiful women will start having video chats with them. Once the victim falls into the trap, the beautiful woman would vanish from the scene. Then men will take over and they will demand large sums of money by threatening to send images from the chat to relatives and friends.

As their reputation is at stake, nobody files a complaint, according to the police.

Fake FB accounts of senior officials

The cyber police have also found that attempts were made to swindle money by creating fake Facebook accounts of senior police and government officials.

After creating the fake account of prominent people and those in senior positions, the culprits will contact people from their friends' list and seek money to be transferred urgently.

A joint probe by the cyber police and cyber dome has revealed that the accounts were created from other states such as Rajasthan, Bihar, Assam and Jharkhand.

Jamtara in Jharkhand is suspected to be the hub of several such fraudsters. Even minors are involved in these online fraudulent activities, according to reports.

The police, however, said that even if the culprits were tracked down, the chances of retrieving the money were bleak.

Earlier, complaints could be directly filed to the cyber cell. But now, complaints should be submitted at the respective police stations. After the police register the case, it would be handed over to the cyber police.

It would take more than a week for these formalities to be completed.