A 47-year-old man, along with his wife, has been arrested for allegedly cheating a city-based resident of over Rs 14 lakh by offering to make his daughter a model, police said on Monday.
The prime accused, who was a model for 20 years and also acted in two Bollywood movies, is a notorious cyber fraudster involved in multiple cases of duping several people, the police said.
The accused would conduct ramp shows in malls in different cities under the pretext of selecting children for modelling and providing chance to feature them in advertisements and also to act with film stars and cricketers by canvassing online, a press release from the Cyberabad police said.
The accused then managed to convince the parents of children who participated in the ramp show to deposit money into multiple accounts as make-up fee, refundable deposit for costumes and other accessories, the release said.
When a complainant visited a mall at Kondapur with his family on December 11, 2022 to celebrate his daughter's birthday, the modelling agency run by the accused was conducting a ramp show to select child models and they took his mobile number and shared a coupon code.
Subsequently, the complainant's daughter walked the ramp and they sent a message to him stating that his daughter was selected for modelling, the police said.
Later, the prime accused spoke to the complainant informing that his daughter got selected for an advertisement and can work with an actress and asked him to deposit Rs 3.25 lakh towards refundable deposit for costumes that would be provided by a famous designer.
The accused made the complainant believe that they are going to conduct a six-day photo-shoot and got a total amount of Rs 14.12 lakh deposited into various bank accounts and finally cheated him under the guise of selecting his daughter for modelling following which the complainant approached the police.
Based on the complaint, a case was registered in Cyber Crime Police Station, and during the investigation the prime accused and his wife were arrested here, the police said.
Police further said the accused had got a website designed for him in the guise of a modelling agency and chose crowded malls in metro cities.
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