Fraudsters fake Himachal Pradesh Governor's identity

Shimla, January 30

Cybercriminals created a fake Instagram account of Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and sought money in his name. The state police got the account deactivated after taking up the matter with its parent company, Meta.

Earlier, Arlekar took to Twitter and said some miscreants were demanding money using a fake account created in his name and asked people to be aware and not entertain their demands.

Following his tweet, the cyber cell officials swung into action and got the fake Instagram profile deactivated. Bhupinder Negi, Additional Superintendent of Police, Cyber Cell, said, “We instantly raised a complaint with the US-based social media company and got the account removed. We have so far not received any complaint of any major financial transaction conducted through the said account.”

“To trace the criminals, we are trying to get information about the IP address of the device from where the account was created. We are working on a robust mechanism to prevent such crimes,” Negi said.

Last year, suspected cybercriminals allegedly impersonated senior leaders and bureaucrats to extract money on the pretext of a medical emergency. About 18,000 complaints of cybercrime were received in the past five years by the state police. Of these, 50 per cent pertained to financial frauds, officials said.