Lucknow, Mar 12 (IANS): A high court lawyer has been duped of Rs 40,000 by a miscreant by using the name of his friend who is the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Bareilly.

In his complaint lodged at Aliganj police station, Harish Kumar Chaurasia of sector C of Aliganj said he got a message on Facebook messenger from a man who introduced himself as CRPF official at Kanpur headquarters.

"The man further said he got my mobile number from our common friend, SSP Bareilly Akhilesh Chaurasia who asked him to contact me to get his issue resolved," Harish said.

The miscreant said he had been transferred to Jammu and Kashmir and he wanted to get his household articles sold for Rs 40,000.

The victim agreed to help the miscreant and transferred the money to a bank account of one Kartikeya.

"I waited for the items to be delivered to my address, but it never came. I then called up SSP Bareilly who feigned ignorance about the man and his nefarious scheme," he said.

Aliganj SHO Nagesh Upadhyay said an FIR under the charges of IPC 420 (cheating) and IT Act has been registered and a probe had been initiated.