Frauds create IPS officer’s fake FB account, try to extort money

Patil, being a well-known speaker, has around 1.30 lakh followers on Facebook. On Saturday, the attempted fraud was brought to the notice of the IPS by a contact from Nashik where the officer has served as the police commissioner and who was approached by the frauds.

MUMBAI: Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Vishwas Nangre Patil on Saturday approached the Mumbai Cyber Police and complained about a fake Facebook account created in his name, which is reaching out to his contacts and asking for monetary help.

“The man posing as the IPS officer sought to know his mobile number and later sought monetary help. However, as the man suspected something was wrong, he immediately approached Patil on his mobile number that he had and found everything was fake. Once it was brought to Patil’s notice, he immediately posted about it alerting all his contacts and later approached the Mumbai Cyber Police with a formal complaint,” said a police officer. (HT PHOTO)

Patil, being a well-known speaker, has around 1.30 lakh followers on Facebook. On Saturday, the attempted fraud was brought to the notice of the IPS by a contact from Nashik where the officer has served as the police commissioner and who was approached by the frauds.

“The man posing as the IPS officer sought to know his mobile number and later sought monetary help. However, as the man suspected something was wrong, he immediately approached Patil on his mobile number that he had and found everything was fake. Once it was brought to Patil’s notice, he immediately posted about it alerting all his contacts and later approached the Mumbai Cyber Police with a formal complaint,” said a police officer.

“Some fraudster has created a fake account in my name and is sending random messages to some of my contacts. I am taking prompt legal action. But please do not respond to the messages or share any kind of info as it must be attempted to dupe,” Patil posted on his account and alerted people in his contact.

The Mumbai Cyber police immediately wrote to Meta platforms and brought the fake Facebook profile down.

Earlier in August 2022, frauds had impersonated Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar and demanded money and Amazon Gift cards from some people in his contacts. Later the frauds made similar attempts using the name and photos of Joint Commissioner of Police, Pravin Padwal. A case was registered at the LT Marg police station in Phansalkar’s matter, but no arrests have been made yet so far.