A 24-year-old native of Malayalappuzha, was arrested in connection with an online fraud case, in which he posed as Munnar Assistant Superintendent of Police Merin Joseph’s brother to extort money from people, including NRIs.

Prince John was arrested on Tuesday based on a complaint filed by a native of Chengannur.

The news of the arrest was revealed by Merin Joseph herself through one of her Facebook posts. In her post, she warned against online fraud and identity theft and also made it clear that she has only one Facebook account.

“I received a complaint yesterday that somebody pretending to be my relative is extorting money from Malayalis both in the state and residing in the Gulf. On the basis of that, a case has been registered and the culprit has been arrested in Allepey,” the ASP said in her post. See her original post here.

The accused was extorting money from people using a fake Facebook profile after masquerading as Merin’s brother. In order to make his claim believable, he had posted pictures of Merin from the fake account. 

According to a report by Mathrubhumi, the accused had taken Rs 20,000 from a person in the Gulf, saying that his sister was in need of some money.

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