Mumbai, Oct 1 (PTI) The Mumbai police have arrested three persons for allegedly duping a man of over Rs 1 crore after befriending him on social media, police said on Friday.

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The fraud came to light when the man approached the cyber police station in the western suburb of Kandivali on September 21, an official said.

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According to the complainant, one of the accused Rani Sarang had sent him friend request on Facebook by creating a fake account, and posed as the wife of his friend, he said.

The accused woman chatted with the complainant on social media over the last couple of months, and during their interactions, she claimed that she was in need of money as her children were ill and family was going through a financial crisis, he said.

After a few days, the accused persons lied to the complainant that the woman had died and another woman will also commit suicide if she did not got money from him, the official said.

The complainant allegedly gave Rs 1.1 crore to the arrested accused Rani Pankaj Sarang (42), Ruchika Ganesh Hapitkar (24) and Prasad Bhanushali (27) during the period, he said.

The trio has been arrested under section 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the IPC and IT Act, the official said, adding that the police have managed to recover Rs 17 lakh and ornaments worth Rs 22 lakh, chequebook, passbook and ATM cards from the accused.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)