Police send friend request on Facebook to catch cheat

Mumbai, 11 Feb 2013 (PTI): Two months after an accountant ran away with his employer’s money, the police arrested him by laying a trap on social networking site Facebook.

 

According to police, Vijay Choudhary, who worked in an electronic shop at Kalba Devi in south Mumbai, had run away with Rs 20,000 that his employer had asked him to deposit in a bank in December last year.

 

However, despite his employer trying to contact him, Choudhary did not turn up. Even his mobile phone was switched off.

 

Later, Choudhary’s employer filed a complaint with the VT road police station.

 

Police studied the CCTV footage that they had obtained from the Bank of India, Opera House branch, where Choudhary had gone but did not deposit the money in his employer’s account.

 

Police’s attempt to trace him through his mobile also went in vain as he had switched off the number.

 

"We came to know during our investigation that Choudhary regularly logged on to the social networking site Facebook," a senior police official said.

 

Police immediately opened a Facebook account and sent a friend request to Choudhary by posing as a woman.

 

No sooner a friend request was sent to Choudhary’s Facebook account, he accepted it.

 

In some days, Choudhary also shared his mobile number with the Facebook friend.

 

Police traced the number to Nagpur even as they continued to be in touch with him on Facebook.

 

Last week, the police, posing as woman friend through Facebook, asked Choudhary to meet at Lower Parel in central Mumbai, to which he readily agreed.

 

When Choudhary came to the pre-decided spot on Saturday, police arrested him.

 

Further investigation was on, they said.