Another bizarre crime has come to light as Delhi police on Sunday arrested a teenager for allegedly running a fake social media account to cheat people on the pretext of selling iPhones at discounted prices.

The accused, identified as Aman, a resident of Hisar in Haryana, was apprehended after a midnight raid at his native village, PTI reported quoting a police officer after they traced a mobile number, which was registered in that location.

A Class 12 dropout, Aman learned online fraud techniques from local cybercriminals and hid the trail of fraudulently acquired money by transferring them to multiple bank accounts.

The accused admitted that he and his associates lured people through fake profiles and duped them using manipulated images, forged chats, and UPI payment links. The gang allegedly defrauded people to the tune of ₹8-9 lakh, police said.

A complainant, who said that the accused operated a social media page offering iPhones at low prices, alleged that he paid ₹65,782 through 29 UPI transactions after being lured by fake offers and false assurances about taxes and shipping. However, no phone was delivered and the accused stopped responding.

Police said at least eight complaints connected to the case have been identified so far.

“Two mobile phones, three debit cards and other digital evidence were recovered from his possession,” police said, adding that efforts are on to trace his associates, identified as Shakir, Amir Khan, Godu, Jagdish and Gulshan.

Smaller cities drove volumes through aspirational demand, aggressive festive offers and wider availability. While older iPhones 16s and 15s drove major shipments under discount-led upgrades, the iPhone 17 base model gained traction supported by a strong iPhone 12–15 install base upgrades.