KOLENCHERY: The police have arrested a gang of three who created fake accounts of women on social media and trapped hundreds of people in honey traps across the state and extorted more than Rs 10 lakh.

The arrested have been identified as Prince (23) of Theruparamb in Thrissur's Mathilakam Perinjanam and his partner Aswathi (25) of Thekkeparamb in Keezhumuri Colony and Anup (23) of Arya Bhavan in Kottarakkara's Neduvathur. All three are bouncers in the film industry.

They were arrested in a case pertaining to kidnapping and beating and extorting Rs 23,000 from an employee of a private company in Ernakulam, who got connected with them through a dating app,. The scam started when the man befriended a woman named Anu through a dating app. She told that she was a native of Kolanchery and is studying in Bangalore. He was called to the bus stop in Kolenchery saying that she is there. While he was waiting, two other accused arrived and interrogated the young man saying they were the girl's brothers. Then he was forcibly taken in a car, beaten and threatened with a knife and was made to transfer Rs. 23,000 to his account. The money in the purse was also stolen and left on the road. On the complaint of the man, the accused were caught in an investigation conducted by Puthenkurish DySP TB Vijayan focusing on the CCTV cameras.

The accused have been living in Bengaluru and Goa for many years. From 2021, it has become clear that they extorted money by threatening people they met through social media.

A case has been registered against them for threatening an employee of another private company working in Ernakulam and extorting a gold chain and Rs 19,000 from an ATM.

In this way, they have taken more than 10 lakhs of rupees in one year. The money was used for lavish living.

Police said that more than 100 people have been cheated, but many are hesitant to complain. More people are being investigated if they are in the fraud group. Inspector T Dileesh, SIs KS Sridevi, VK Sajeev and G Sasidharan are leading the investigation.