KANPUR, March 18 -- She thought she was talking to Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook. By the time Alison Weems, a retired teacher from Chakeri, realised the deception, Rs.1.57 crore had vanished from her accounts. What began with a single friend request in January 2025 unfolded into a 13-month-long fraud involving multiple fake identities, fake companies, and a fake lawyer-each layer more elaborate than the last, investigators said. Weems, who spent decades teaching at a Methodist school in Kanpur, reportedly believed she was entering a partnership to open a new school in the city. The impersonators allegedly posed as Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and offered to invest in an educational venture, a pitch investigators say was tailored to her background. After the initial contact, the accused allegedly introduced new identities to sustain the deception, including a supposed associate of Elon Musk, founder of electric carmaker Tesla , a country singer named Josh Turner, and lawyer Ashok Suresh. Officials said the fraud was neither random nor crude. It was sustained and methodical, relying on WhatsApp chats, phone calls, and social media interactions to build trust and gradually extract money. Investigators identified the scam as a "pig butchering" fraud, where victims are groomed over weeks or months before being systematically fleeced. Each stage was designed to keep the victim engaged while introducing new reasons for payment. HT reached out to Meta but did not get a response till the time of going to print. Investigators said Weems was allegedly convinced to open a trading account as part of the investment plan, showing the psychological manipulation involved. When she reportedly began questioning repeated fund transfers, the accused allegedly added another layer, introducing entities named Miracle Givers and Lead India. A person posing as a lawyer allegedly assured her that the money could be recovered after payments towards taxes, currency conversion charges, stamp duty, and legal fees. Each payment was followed by fresh financial demands. The funds were allegedly routed through five separate bank accounts, a pattern designed to fragment transactions and complicate tracking, police said....