Fraudsters create fake FB account of Nizamabad collector, dupe people

Hyderabad: Nizamabad district collector C. Narayana Reddy has become the latest victim of cyber fraudsters who created a fake Facebook profile in his name and asked people to transfer money, citing health emergency.

Earlier, the superintendent of police of Nalgonda district had become a victim after a fake account was created in his name. Many police officers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have become victims of cyber fraudsters.

The police have asked the public to not accept requests from these fake accounts or send money without verifying or confirming with the officer concerned.

This trend of creating fake profiles of police personnel and government employees started a few months ago. According to officials, the fraudsters first collect details of the official whose fake account they want to create and send requests to people from the official's contact list, asking them for money.

"Most of the time, they ask for money citing a health emergency for a family member. They also send the account details. If anybody sends money to these accounts, the sender is duped," said an official.

The new modus operandi came to light after a few persons who received requests from the fake accounts contacted the officials concerned. It was also found that when people asked for clarification or how the amount would be repaid, the fraudsters either blocked them or stopped responding to them.

In the case of the Nalgonda SP Ranganath, the police have arrested four persons from the Bharatpur district in Rajasthan. Inquiries revealed that the gang created fake profiles of police officers from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.

The police also found that the gang has so far created as many as 350 fake FB profiles in the names of police officers of various states. Of these, 81 profiles were of Telangana cops. The gang had created fake profiles of more than 30 cops from other states.