Mumbai Crime: Man poses as television actor to cheat 22-year-old woman

The accused, who has been identified as Jeddy Raut, used misleading and deceptive advertorials on social media and other sites

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A 26-year-old man was arrested by the Bandra police for posing as a famous television actor and cheating a 22-year-old woman of several thousand rupees. The arrest was made on Sunday by Bandra police's cyber detection team.

The accused, who has been identified as Jeddy Raut, used misleading and deceptive advertorials on social media and other sites. Meanwhile, the police are also in the process of contacting the actor whose name was used, for further leads.

A report in the Hindustan Times quotes an officer from the Bandra Police as having stated, "We first got to know about the modus operandi used by the accused when a woman from Surat approached the police station. She had clicked on a web advertorial which promised of giving roles to young aspiring women. When she clicked on it, she got in touch with the accused, who then started telling her about his contacts in the industry and said that he will arrange a role for her in a serial or as a side actress in a Bollywood movie. The accused used to give the actor’s reference to the woman to gain her trust. He would even chat with her on WhatsApp messenger under the guise of the actor."

The woman, who originally hails from Surat, was invited to Mumbai for a meeting by Raut. He then asked her to pay a usm of RS 20,000 to land a role in the television industry. The woman told him that she did not have that much money and she proceeded to withdraw Rs 10,000 from a nearby ATM, which she then gave to Raut.

The HT report also quotes the police official as having added, "After cheating the woman from Gujarat, Raut also got in touch with women from Pune and Navi Mumbai. However, with them he signed an agreement under which he would have to return the money taken from them in five years, if he failed to get them roles. Although technically we cannot term the other two cases as fraud, we need to ascertain whether the accused used the similar modus operandi used in the Surat woman’s case on other cases."

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