Madhya Pradesh’s cyber cell, aided by Rajasthan’s specialist teams, has arrested two individuals who created a fake Facebook profile impersonating a senior Bhopal police official. The accused allegedly lured a minor to activate a SIM card, which was then used in fraud attempts. The plot, a combination of social media deception and SIM-based trickery, was exposed in a multi-state operation across Alwar and Bhopal.
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Fake Facebook Profile Used to Engineer Scam
Police unearthed a sophisticated deception when the fake profile, bearing the name and photograph of an Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), was used to mislead online Facebook users. Such impersonation is characteristic of organised cyber scams that exploit public trust in authority figures. According to the Bhopal Cyber Cell, the adult suspect, POS agent Birbal Prajapat, recruited a minor from Alwar and paid ₹1,500 to activate a new SIM card. The SIM was later sold to cyber criminals for ₹3,000, enabling them to manage the fraudulent account.
During initial investigations, the cyber cell linked the fake account to Alwar-based servers and traced the SIM activation trail through digital forensics. In the early hours of June, authorities raided Prajapat’s mobile repair shop and took both him and the minor into custody.
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Victims Potentially Targeted for Deeper Exploitation
While no direct monetary theft has been reported yet, officials warn that the scam may have been the first step toward more sinister goals, including identity theft, extortion, or targeted phishing. Cybercrime inspectors caution that this tactic, using fake social media profiles combined with SIM manipulation, is increasingly prevalent among local organised networks.
Authorities have filed charges under relevant sections of the IT Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for impersonation, fraud, and SIM trafficking. Both suspects have been served legal notices and are currently in police custody. The investigation is ongoing, and police are tracking digital logs to determine whether additional SIMs were used in other fraudulent activities.
About the Author – Anirudh Mittal is a B.Sc. LL.B. (Hons.) student at National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, with a keen interest in corporate law and tech-driven legal change.