Bhubaneswar, June 14:The Tamando Police in Bhubaneswar have uncovered an online fraud racket involving fake escort service advertisements created using stolen photographs of women and arrested four persons allegedly linked to the scam, police officials said on Sunday.
The accused have been identified as Umakanta Dalei, Chitta Ranjan Mohanty, Tofan Pradhan and Minji Bhoi. The arrests were made following an investigation into a complaint regarding the unauthorized use of women's photographs on fraudulent escort service platforms.
According to ACP Sub-Division III, Prasant Kumar Sahoo, the accused allegedly downloaded photographs of several young women from social media accounts and used them to create fake online profiles promoting escort services without the victims' knowledge or consent.
Police said the fraudulent profiles were used to attract customers seeking escort services. The accused allegedly collected advance payments through digital transactions and subsequently stopped responding to the customers after receiving the money.
The scam came to light when a woman approached the police, alleging that her photograph had been used on a fake escort service website. Acting on the complaint, investigators verified the information and devised a trap by contacting the phone number listed in the advertisement.
A police team, accompanied by the complainant and operating in plain clothes, reached the designated location. During a staged transaction, the accused were apprehended while allegedly accepting money from a prospective customer.
“We had deployed another team at the spot as backup. During the operation, we seized their mobile phones and vehicles,” ACP Sahoo said.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the racket may have cheated hundreds of individuals. Police suspect the accused used multiple SIM cards, bank accounts and digital platforms to execute the fraud and conceal their identities.
During the raid, officers seized nine mobile phones, 15 SIM cards, electronic devices, bank account details and records of UPI transactions believed to be linked to the scam.
Police are continuing their investigation to determine the full extent of the operation and identify any additional individuals involved in the network.
