Man held for faking Goa CM’s fake FB profile, seeking money

Goa police’s cyber crime cell on Monday arrested a man who had allegedly created a fake Facebook account in the name of CM Pramod Sawant and sought money from his Facebook friends under the pretext of medical emergencies. In a joint operation supervised by SP, Mewat, in Haryana, Mohammed Sakir Husain, a resident of Mathura, was held in the western UP city.

Goa police worked together with police in both Mewat and Mathura to trap Husain, officers said. Police are investigating details of other victims of the accused, who was found with 200 SIM cards from different service providers, Goa police said in a statement.

Th cyber crime police here had received a complaint on July 16 about an unknown person who had created a fake account by using Sawant’s name and image and sending requests, asking people to transfer money to an electronic payment wallet he created impersonating Sawant.

Goa police said their investigation showed that the offence was being committed from Mewat, Mathura and surrounding areas and had shared the information with the local police.