Impersonating Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, he defrauded retired teacher Alison Weems of Rs 1.57 crore. He was contacted through social media. On the pretext of coming to the city to do school business, he deposited money in various accounts from January 25, 2025 to February 20, 2026. After Mark Zuckerberg, the swindler also contacted American singer George Turner and Tesla company owner Elon Musk as his associate. After coming to know about the fraud, he lodged an FIR in the Cyber Crime Branch police station on Monday.
According to the FIR lodged at the Cyber Crime Branch police station, Alison Weems, a resident of Anandnagar, Chakeri, is retired from Methodist High School. He was introduced to a person on Facebook. He introduced himself as Mark Zuckerberg and started chatting. He took it into confidence and talked about starting a school business in Kanpur. After Mark Zuckerberg, he got in touch with a fraudster calling himself singer Josh Turner through Facebook and WhatsApp. He described himself as an associate of American singer and Elon Musk. He also assured to open a school and provide jobs in it.
Money was deposited from Alison Weems for jobs, investments, processing fees and other works. The chat between Josh Turner and Mark Zuckerberg was deleted from his account. After his money was deposited, a person named Miracle Givers contacted him. He assured to get the money back. Said that their money is in the package sent through FedEx company. He deposited more money in the name of shipping charges, custom charges, vehicle repair, package release and operational compliance fees. When he became suspicious, he cut off contact with the Miracle Givers.
A few days later, he was contacted by Ashok Suresh, an alleged advocate of Lead India (Delhi), through an account named Cyber Reporting Assistance Online Scam Reporting Center India on Messenger. The man told the teacher that his money had been invested in Wisdom Capital. There is a trading account in his name whose user name is -AllysonW-000817.
The teacher’s investment portfolio showed Rs 2,23,15,520 after tax deduction. To withdraw the amount, the accused deposited more money in the name of tax, verification fee, stamp duty, rebalancing fee. Said that Rs 2.23 crore will be received on 20 February 2026. If he waited for one more month, he was given the offer of getting more interest of Rs 18.86 lakh. After this the accused ended contact with him. He also received calls from different numbers from alleged cyber police officer Sandeep.
According to the teacher, she had deposited Rs 1.57 crore as her retirement fund and life savings through other means. A complaint was lodged on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal on 27 February 2027, after which his Rs 30.42 lakh was held.
A report has been registered on the complaint of the retired teacher. The matter is being investigated. The accused have conspired to cheat with complete planning. In this, different members of the gang contacted the woman and cheated her of money. – Shravan Kumar Singh, DCP Crime