P Harishekharan, an IPS officer in Karnataka filed a complaint with the CID cyber crime police station in Bengaluru in September 15, saying that someone had created a fake account on Facebook with his name and photographs requesting funds from friends.
A similar incident was reported when another CID Deputy Superintendent of Police MH Nagthe lodged a complaint on similar grounds. Another DSP Prakash Rathod also reported a similar incident where his friend of friend had donated money to a fake facebook profile impersonating the police officer.
Many such related complains made by police officers in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana rang alarm bells across the police department towards an organised network operating from Bharatpur and other parts of Rajasthan, a report in the Indian Express reported.
The investigation revealed that the network of operators including a SIM card retailer and distributor had created hundreds of fake Aadhar cards and issues SIM cards through these fake IDs to create social media accounts impersonating police officers.
CID have arrested four from Rajasthan- Balwinder Singh, a SIM card distributor; Ansar Khan, a SIM card retailer who sold SIMs through fake IDs; Saini, who created fake Aadhaar card; and Saddam, who used to receive funds. Police is also looking for one Shakeel Ahmed, who created fake accounts on social media sites.
“There is a rise in the number of instances where social media profiles of public figures and officials, including police officers, are being duplicated to cheat the public. The imposter sends friend requests to all the contacts and once accepted, they would induce the persons to transfer money to various e-wallets/payment bank accounts citing some urgent need,” MD Sharath, Superintendent of Police of the CID cyber crime unit in Karnataka reportedly said.
According to police officials, the accused used to download photographs of the police officers in their uniform and in plain clothes and then they would create on their social media account with their name. The miscreants would then contact people through the facebook account and would request funds from them.
Police officers, meanwhile, were alerted of such social media accounts form friends and family being active on the officer’s name.
“My profile is private but they managed to source some of my pictures to create an account. Luckily, the account gathered only 43 followers before I became aware of it. Many of those who got the messages were people in my village and they did not have the new payment systems. We were able to block the account in quick time,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Bengaluru (East) SD Sharanappa said.
The investigation reveals that there was a large scale creation of fake Aadhaar cards and sim cards issued without any verification. Police also said that these SIM cards were used to carry out scams on other re-selling platforms like Olx and Quickr.
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