Noida, Mar 29 (PTI) The Noida Police on Friday said they have arrested four people, including a woman, for allegedly extorting money from a city resident after befriending him over Facebook using a false identity.

The accused, all aged between 21 and 25 years, had created a Facebook account in the name of a girl "Nagar Pari" and used it to interact with the complainant, who is a graduation student here, the police said.

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"The complainant said he was called for a meeting by the girl on March 14 near a private hospital located in Sector 62. When the student reached the decided location, he found a woman and her two male accomplices who were already there," a police spokesperson said.

"The student said he was cheated by them and the trio took his mobile phone and forced him into transferring Rs 17,120 to their account after threatening to kill him," the spokesperson said.

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Additional DCP (Noida) Manish Mishra said the local Sector 58 police station officials on Thursday evening nabbed the thugs, including the woman member of the gang.

"Around Rs 15,000 cash and six mobile phones were seized from their possession. During the probe it has come to light that the gang used social media accounts made under fake identities to befriend people and dupe them in a similar manner," Mishra said.

Those held have been identified as Abhishek Sharma, Firoz Khan, Shashipal Prasad and Shivani, the police said.

The FIR has been lodged under IPC sections 420 (cheating) and 386 (extortion), the police said, adding the accused have been sent to judicial custody.

(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)