Kidney racketeers used Facebook

The alleged international kidney racket, which came under the police radar following the death of a city youngster in Sri Lanka, has been using Facebook and other social networking sites to identify victims.

Kishanbagh resident, Dinesh Maroo, who died in Colombo allegedly after a kidney transplant, had at least six Facebook friends with whom he had discussed kidney donation in the past.

One of them, named “Nv Kidney” had also had an e-mail correspondence with Dinesh, who sent his passport copy and ID proof to him, probably for visa and air tickets, his family members said.

Meanwhile, CCS police has taken few people into custody from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in connection with the case. Officials said that they had traced the persons who were in touch with victims through email and Facebook.

The police has also tracked two other victims who went to Colombo with Dinesh on March 22. One of them has also undergone a kidney transplant in a Lankan hospital. The racketeers had called the victims to Colombo with job offers, said police sources.

The Facebook friends of Dinesh have accounts under false names and have uploaded statuses seeking attention of people for kidney donation. The scam attracts victims through these status messages and then convinces them over chat and email correspondence.

The racketeers have also given advertisements on the internet. CCS police officials said that they were investigating a nexus active on social networking sites.

Chat details of Dinesh reveal that the racketeers, who also claim to be medical doctors, had convinced the victims that they would not face any physical trouble after the transplant, and had offered lakhs of rupees as compensation. They had chosen Sri Lanka for the operation to avoid police surveillance, sources added, Deccan Chronicle reports.