VIJAYAWADA: Around 7 pm on Thursday, Anantapur District Collector Gandham Chandrudu received a message from his Facebook friend asking whether he needed money. Soon after inquiring the matter, the Collector was baffled when he came to know that someone had created a fake Facebook account in his name which looks similar to the original account, to extort money.
Chandrudu immediately lodged a complaint with Anantapur SP B Satya Yesu Babu.
The fraudster downloaded his profile photo from Facebook and created a fake profile in his name. He sent requests to several people who are presently on his friends list, for money. Later, he messaged them saying he needed money urgently.
“Within hours of creating the fake account, he befriended more than 100 people and requested money from around 10 through FB messenger. Thankfully, none entertained the request and they immediately brought the issue to my notice. I request public not to entertain such requests by transferring money to the unknown,” Chandrudu told TNIE.
This is not an isolated case. According to police, more than 300 such incidents of fake Facebook profiles of senior officials, famous personalities and politicians have been reported in the State.In Chandrudu’s case, the investigation officials found that the accused formed gangs and were organising cybercrime from Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and other parts of the country. Though they could not locate their exact location, the police successfully blocked all the bank accounts used by the gang for money transfer.
“In this particular case, the accused gave his bank account number and Google Pay number which helped us to find from where these gangs are operating, but could not trace the exact location. However, we blocked the account number and further investigation is on,” said Satya Yesu Babu.Similarly, a recent investigation carried out by cybercrime wing of Crime Investigation Department (APCID) revealed that several gangs operating from Rajasthan and Haryana were into creation of fake social media accounts of government officials from the State to extort money.
“The racket used to observe all the social media platforms and create profiles of government officials right from the junior rank to the senior level. The gang members know all languages and they can chat with the targeted person in his regional language. The fraudsters seek moderate sum of not more than `20,000. Many fall for the trick and transfer the money,” a senior official from the CID explained their modus operandi.The CID official further added that special teams were sent to other States to nab the cyber fraudsters.