How a 22-year-old cheated bureaucrats from Italy by posing as India’s vice president
An Indian-origin man living in Italy was arrested after he allegedly impersonated the Indian vice president to dupe senior government officials and bureaucrats on WhatsApp.
Gagandeep Singh, 22, a resident of Offanengo, Italy, was arrested from the Delhi airport by the police last week following an extensive investigation involving human and technical surveillance and analysis of technical details, police said.
Mr Singh, who has been living in Italy since 2007, created a fake WhatsApp account in the name of vice president Jagdeep Dhankar, deputy commissioner of police (IFSO) Prashant Gautam said.
He hatched the impersonation scheme after watching several YouTube videos, police said.
He created a fake WhatsApp account from Italy with the help of an associate in India, who sent him the One Time Password (OTP) needed to set it up.
His associate Ashwani Kumar, 29, a resident of Samana in the northern Indian state of Punjab, was also arrested in connection with the case.
Mr Gautam said Mr Singh collected the contact details of senior bureaucrats from the internet and sent them messages to seek favours.
“After watching several YouTube videos and getting contact details of senior bureaucrats, Singh decided to create a fake WhatsApp account using the photo of vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar, and sent messages to senior government officials,” he told PTI news agency.
Delhi police filed a complaint in the case after they were alerted about the WhatsApp scam by senior government officials in October last year.
After the matter came to light, the police obtained the details of the WhatsApp profile from the Meta-owned platform.
“The IP address of the sender was traced back to Italy. The IFSO team started working on all technical aspects and conducted raids,” he said.
All this while, the vice president’s office was oblivious to the scam that was happening in his name from an Italian city.
Mr Singh reportedly wanted to seek favours from senior government officials to buy a petrol pump in India, reported The Print, citing police sources.
Police said they collected his details from the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office (FRRO), banks and the regional passport office before they nabbed him at the Delhi international airport.
“We have also recovered five mobile phones used in the commission of crime from his possession,” he said.
Mr Singh hails from India’s northern Jammu city. He has been living in Offanengo with his family after finishing his secondary school education there.
