Karimnagar: Facebook paves way for cheating innocent people

Karimnagar: A Dubai based man aged 32yrs originally hailing from Karimnagar has allegedly cheated about 500 people back home through a fake Facebook profile.

After creating a fake ID in Facebook, he in the guise of a young Arab lady lured as many as 500 people. After getting their confidence won, he shared some luring photos with them and in turn got their obscene photos. Then he started blackmailing them to open the issue to the world.

The internet blackmailer was identified by the Karimnagar district police as Bala Tirupati, a native of Kathalpur mandal in Karimnagar district. At present, he is residing in Dubai. The man has been luring high-ranking people and their sons for the last one year and allegedly sent lewd SMSs after befriending them on Facebook portal.

With a fear of backlash in the society, most of the victims did not lodge any complaint with the police. However, few victims approached the police as they preferred congregated courage to facing worry. According to the sources, four persons associated with Tirupati were taken into custody for questioning. The police put on efforts to bring the accused to Karimnagar from Dubai.

The Karimnagar district police have been verifying whether the accused has a single fake web profile or many such profiles to make easy money. Korutla police inspector T Mahesh Goud told the media that the exact number of people Tirupati had cheated would be known only after his arrest. His account had over 1300 friends, whereas he befriended only some of them, who appeared influential. In turn, some of the people sent their obscene photographs to Tirupati, said the inspector, adding that a case has been registered against Tirupati. In fact, the accused has even posted the photographs of his wife without her acquaintance.