Youth arrested for cheating girls online

The Local Crime Branch (LCB) unit of Thane (rural) police on Thursday arrested a 24-year-old youth for cheating young girls through fake profiles on social media websites.

Police said the accused, Vishwanath Surkiya Patil (24), was a school drop-out who allegedly befriended several girls on various social media platforms, including Facebook.

Assistant police inspector Prafful Wagh said, “Posing as a girl, Patil would lure girls with attractive job offers in MNCs or with promises of suitable grooms for them. He would exchange mobile numbers and start chatting with them on WhatsApp. After winning their trust, he would convince them for face-to-face meetings. However, he would turn up at the designated location posing as the driver of the so-called groom or a MNC representative only to flee with the girls’ ornaments, cash and mobile phones.”

Following two such complaints registered at Bhayandar police station, superintendent of police, Dr Mahesh Patil, handed over the reins of the investigation to the LCB team. The LCB team, with the help of the cyber cell, hacked the fake FB account and after extracting friend list details, established contacts with other prospective targets.