This paper addresses the problem of efficient control of nonlinear distributed networked control systems in the presence of stochastic deception attacks and time-varying coupling strength. A strategy combining model-based and event-triggered control to reduce the number of transmissions over a network thereby, saving network resources is proposed. In this strategy, a plant model at the controller end is used to estimate the state of each subsystem. Further, the control law between the two adjacent triggering instants changes in accordance with dynamics of the plant model. The nonlinearities present in each subsystem are approximated via neural network. The neural network weights and feedback signal are updated only when the event-triggering condition at the sensor end is violated. Also, a lower bound on the inter-event time is computed to avoid the occurrence of Zeno phenomena. Finally, the efficacy of the proposed methodology are verified through simulation examples.