Fake social media account of Maharashtra IPS officer created to extort money
A senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from Maharashtra is the latest victim of fake Facebook profile con
A senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from Maharashtra is the latest victim of fake Facebook profile con.
An unidentified cyber fraudster on Friday created a fake Facebook profile of Vinoy Kumar Choubey, additional director general, anti-corruption bureau (ACB), Maharashtra, and tried to extract money from the people on his friend list.
Many friends, relatives, policemen, journalists and other people on Choubey’s friend list received a friend request from the fake account. The account had Choubey’s same profile picture which his original account has.
The fraudster then sent messages to those who accepted his friend requests, asking them to help him financially. He requested a journalist to urgently send him ₹20,000 claiming wife of one of his friends was serious. “Since I knew the senior officer well, I immediately informed him about the cyber con,” said the journalist. Meanwhile, the senior officer started receiving phone calls and messages from other friends too about the fake Facebook account, the police said.
Chaubey, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, reported the matter to the cyber police who took down the fake account and launched an investigation.
Chaubey tweeted, “Someone has created a fake FB account with my name and photograph. He is sending friend requests from this fake account with some ulterior motives. Please don’t accept any such friend request. The concerned authorities have been informed and they are taking appropriate action.”
“The cyber police are taking action and also investigating the matter,” Choubey said.
In October 2020, a joint commissioner of Income Tax had registered a complaint with the Gamdevi police after someone created two fake Facebook accounts in her name, using her photos and requested people in her friend list to help her financially by telling them a fake accident story.
“Last year two complaints from two senior IPS officers and an IRS officer were received,” said a senior cyber police officer.