Facebook Alert! Fraudsters create fake FB account in IPS officer's name to seek monetary help

Fraudsters have created a fake Facebook account in the name of Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Vishwas Nangre Patil and approached his contacts to seek their information and monetary help, a Mumbai police official said on Sunday. Patil, posted as the additional director general of Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau, has approached the Mumbai cyber police and lodged a complaint, he said.

The fake Facebook account has now been deleted.

Patil, who is also a motivational speaker, has more than one lakh followers on Facebook.

The crime was brought to his notice on Saturday by a contact person from Nashik whom the fraudsters approached.

"During the probe into the matter, the police found a man posing as Patil demanded his contact person's mobile number and money also," the official said.

The contact person suspected something wrong and he immediately approached Patil on his mobile number and alerted him.

"Patil then alerted all his contacts and lodged a complaint with the cyber police," the official said.

Later, Patil in a Facebook post said, "Some fraudster has created fake account on my name and sending random messages to some of my contacts as below. I am taking prompt legal action. But pl do not respond or share any kind of info as it must be attempt to dupe!"

The fraudsters were demanding urgent help posing as Patil. The Mumbai Cyber police wrote to Meta Platforms (the company which owns Facebook) and got the fake profile removed, the official said.

Later, Patil posted another message on his FB account saying, "Thanks to cyber police team, Mumbai for prompt action and getting my fake fb profile account deleted."