Royala Nagar Crime Inspector Kalaiarasan was baffled when his relative called him on Tuesday and asked him if he urgently needed money and if so why he should ask through Facebook Messenger. However, he quickly realised what would have happened and found out that somebody has created a fake profile using his name and photo and has been misusing it to extort money from his friends. 

“The fraudster downloaded my profile photo from Facebook and created a fake profile in my name. He sent requests to many who are already on my friends’ list and as soon as they accepted the request, he or she messaged him seeking money claiming ‘emergency’. Within three hours, he befriended 87 people and requested money from 17 of them. Thankfully, none entertained the messenger as they are all aware that I’m rarely active on Facebook,” said the inspector. 

He said he tried to engage with the person behind the profile to extract details and managed to get a phone number to which he/she asked people to send money via GPay. “The particulars have been shared with the cyber cell and the account has been blocked. I too have informed my friends on Facebook not to fall prey to such fraudsters through other mediums. I request everyone not to send money to such requests on social media without confirming with the person concerned over the phone or in person,” added the inspector. 

When contacted, the personnel at the T Nagar police district’s cyber cell told DT Next that they have received similar complaints from two other sub-inspectors too. “We are trying to trace the culprits through technology available,” said police. Only last year, when the pandemic was at its peak, several fake profiles of senior police officers cropped up and the gang behind managed to cheat their friends by making them send money. They were arrested from Rajasthan in November.