AP: Two held for honey trapping on pretext of marriage through Instagram

The woman would start talking to men, who frequently commented and messaged her on social media posts, luring them into a romantic relationship with her. Soon after gaining their trust, she would ask them for money even as she would express her intentions of getting married to them.

Hyderabad:The Rachakonda Cyber Crime police arrested two people for extorting money on the pretext of marriage through the social media platform Instagram. The arrested have been identified as Parasa Tanushree (23) and her assistant Parasa Ravi Teja (32), both residents of Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The matter came to light after one of the victims of the fraud complained of getting duped of Rs. 31.66 lakhs, informed Rachakonda Cyber Crime ACP Harinath. The accused woman created a huge follower base on Instagram from four different accounts, which she later used as a platform to choose her targets from.

The woman would start talking to men, who frequently commented and messaged her on social media posts, luring them into a romantic relationship with her. Soon after gaining their trust, she would ask them for money even as she would express her intentions of getting married to them.

In one such case, the woman extorted over Rs. 31.66 lakhs from a man from Hyderabad, citing that her mother was severely ill and in need of urgent treatment. The woman, after collecting this money over a period of eight months with the help of her assistant Ravi Teja, disappeared, raising doubts.

Realizing that he has been duped, the man approached the Cyber Crime police. The police started investigating and traced the two from Tanushree's social media handles. Both were arrested on Sunday and taken to remand.