Cyber fraudsters create fake profile of Thrissur Collector for scam, probe begins

Thrissur: A gang attempted to swindle money from a resident of Athirappilly, Thrissur, by creating a fake Facebook account of Thrissur District Collector, Arjun Pandian. However, the resident realized it was a scam and backed out without paying any money.

The group created an account in the name of District Collector Arjun Pandian to attempt the fraud. Initially, they contacted the resident of Athirappilly through Facebook Messenger, posing as the Collector. He was told that a man named Sumith Kumar was with CRPF and was like a brother to the Collector. They further said that since Sumith Kumar had been transferred, he had some furniture at his Bangalore home, which he was willing to sell at a very low price.

After getting the Athirappilly resident's phone number, the group said Sumith Kumar would call him. Subsequently, a person introducing himself as Sumith Kumar contacted the resident from a North Indian mobile number. The scammer shared pictures of the furniture via WhatsApp and offered to sell them for Rs 1,10,000. They even promised to deliver the items for free using a CRPF truck. However, the Athirappilly resident refused to proceed with the transaction after realizing it was a scam. He recorded the phone conversations related to the incident. The Cyber cell has started an investigation.

This is not the first time a fake profile has been created in the name of the Thrissur District Collector. Three such fake profiles had been created before. The collector had previously informed the Cyber Cell, which resulted in the deletion of those accounts. The group behind the fraud attempt had copied and pasted images from the collector's real Facebook page, making the fake profile appear authentic.