Lucknow: Rae Bareli police, with support from the Cyber Cell and Special Operations Group (SOG), on Sunday busted an interstate cyber gang that specialised in creating fake social media profiles of senior police and administrative officers to extort money from gullible victims. Four gang members were arrested during a coordinated raid in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, while two mobile phones used for the fraudulent activities were seized.Rae Bareli SP Yashveer Singh revealed that the gang recently created a fake Facebook account using his name and photo to deceive his acquaintances. “This gang was targeting people connected to senior officers. By carefully scanning the social media profiles of officers, they identified friends, relatives, and acquaintances, and then sent messages demanding money in emergency situations,” he said.Rae Bareli additional SP Sanjeev Sinha said that the gang had been operating out of Alwar for a considerable time and has a track record of similar cyber frauds across states. Prior to targeting Yashveer Singh, they also created a fake account of many IGs of Jammu & Kashmir Police and extorted money. Police suspect the gang to have impersonated multiple officials, including bureaucrats and senior officers, to dupe unsuspecting contacts.The four arrested men have been identified as Lalit Chandra, a resident of Nagal Tappa Nana Bagad Tiraha; Sahil Khan, of Pali village; Jalsingh and Sahil Lal of Kiriria village—all located in Alwar district, Rajasthan.This operation comes after Rae Bareli police arrested three other members of the same gang on July 3. The earlier arrests took place near GIC College in Rae Bareli, where Narveer Singh (from Ballabhgarh in Haryana’s Faridabad), Rashmuddin (from Bagaur Ismailpur, Alwar), and Basir Ahmed (from Naugawan in Rajasthan’s Alwar) were caught red-handed while attempting to withdraw money linked to the fake SP’s account. Their interrogation provided critical leads, which eventually led police teams to Alwar.Police are now interrogating the arrested men to identify other members of this well-spread cyber network. “We are mapping their operations and financial transactions. Their modus operandi shows that they operate in a highly organised manner, using fake IDs of officers to exploit public trust,” the SP added.The arrests highlight a growing trend where cybercriminals exploit the credibility of high-ranking officials on social media. Authorities have urged citizens to verify any financial requests, even if they appear to come from known officers, before making any payments.
