On Monday, Cyberabad police arrested a small-time Bollywood actor along with his wife, who allegedly cheated people with huge sums of money on the pretext of giving a role in promotional advertisements.
The arrested persons were identified as Apurva Ashwin alias Armaan Arjun Kapoor and his wife Natasha Kapoor alias Nazish Memon from Maharashtra.
According to the police reports, they cheated a couple with Rs 14.12 lakhs promising to provide a role to their daughter in a promotional advertisement for a biscuit company.
The victim’s family met Memon at a shopping mall in Kondapur in December where she introduced herself as a person representing a modeling agency. She enquired if the couple was interested in a modeling role for their daughter in a TV ad.
Memon convinced them saying they select kids for modeling in television ads and photo shoots for promotions of various brands. She told them that the kids would get a chance alongside famous actors and actresses.
The fraudsters conducted a ramp show at the mall to convince the couple and told them that their daughter is selected for the shoot of an advertisement for a big biscuit company.
The police said the couple was asked to transfer Rs 3.25 lakhs refundable caution deposit, initially. Later collected another Rs 10.87 lakhs from them on the pretext of a photo shoot.
The fraud couple used Whatsapp and a well-maintained website to contact their targets and asked them to transfer money to the accounts of Rajasthan-based traders.
The cops seized Rs 15.60 lakh from him, along with a laptop and four mobile phones. Apurva was arrested in similar cases by the Mumbai police. Cyberabad police registered four cases against him.
