Nedumkandam: A 29-year-old man has been arrested for fleecing money from housewives and girls, by posing as an Army officer on social media. Ranjith R Pillai, a native of Sooranad in Kollam, has been nabbed by the police.
Ranjith committed the fraud by starting an account on Facebook and Instagram in the name of Ajay, according to the police. He also put up photos of Army officers, in uniform, as the profile photos.
The police conducted a probe following a complaint by a 17-year-old girl from Nedumkandam and the accused was nabbed from Coimbatore.
In 2018, Ranjith had worked at a soldiers' canteen in Pune. Ranjith had allegedly fleeced amounts between Rs 500 and Rs 10,000 from several people. He had one phone just to commit the fraud.
The youth befriended housewives and girl students by sending friend requests from fake accounts on social media. He would get hold of the photos of these women and extort money from them. But the accused did not appear over video call even once, according to the victims.
