Man From Agra Arrested For Creating Fake Profile Of Maharashtra DGP On Facebook

MUMBAI: An Agra-based man was arrested by the Maharashtra Nodal Cyber Police for creating a fake Facebook profile in the name of Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey. The accused created the account on his mother’s phone. He was tracked and nabbed by cyber cops after a complaint was filed by Advocate Atal Bihari Dubey, who had received multiple friend requests from the account.

The man arrested has been identified as Mehfuz Azim Khan, 21. The cops had requested the IP address and phone number from Facebook as part of the investigation, after which the URL was tracked. The cops tracked the phone number down to Agra, where they discovered it belonged to Savana Azim. Although, the account was opened and operated by Mehfuz.

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Mehfuz was initially questioned by the police and did not respond properly, so he was summoned to the Mumbai office. On August 16, it became clear that he had created the fake profile when he appeared at the nodal cyber police station.

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According to complainant Advocate Atal Bihari Dubey, he received friend requests from the aforementioned account. Because Pandey was already a Facebook friend, he became suspicious. He then confirmed this with Pandey, concluding that the account was bogus.

Police claim cybercriminals are making cloned or fake profiles of those who have kept their profiles public. Using their picture and personal details they create a look-a-like account. Then they start sending random friend requests and demand money citing some emergency. They cheat their friends and contacts by asking for money via e-wallet. Such modus-operandi is not new but still large number of cases are coming to light

Quick TIPS:

• Never pay money online if someone is requesting for urgent monetary help. It can be a fraud.
• Double check with the person if he is actually in distress and requires any assistance.
• Chatting with person is not good enough as authentication as chances are high that the account is hacked or spoofed.