Celebs seem to be easy target for cyber criminals. Listen to a few of them sharing their nightmares…

Sheetal

When the world has moved on to the digital space, so have the scammers! Phissing attacks, impersonating someone else’s identity or company with fake online pages to dupe money has become a regular affair.

Many web series of the likes of Jamtara, Hacked, Cyber Squad and Chakarvyuh- An Inspector Vikrar Crime Thriller, have addressed this alarming issue. In fact, another series, Chutzpah, a dark comedy thriller which looks at digital frauds and honey traps, starring Fukrey stars Varun Sharma and Manjot Singh, will release on July 3 on SonyLIV.

Still many have fallen prey to it, including celebs. So, we bring first-person cyber scam/crime accounts of celebs and what they have learnt from them.

Dealing with it

Unfortunately, I fell prey to cyber crime some years ago. My Facebook account was hacked and the hacker had posted some random photos on my timeline. My friends found those weird photos on my timeline and informed me. That’s how I realised that my Facebook account had been hacked. I changed my password and switched on the two-factor authentication security in the settings.

Radha Bhatt, actor, last seen in web series Sunflower

Fraud verified

Once I fell into the web of cybercrime. My verified account on Instagram was hacked and was used to scam many people. The guy who hacked my account started asking big sums of money from random people by assuring big roles in movies. As, I was in London participating in a pageant, I was unaware of all the activities. But as soon as I found out about it, I registered a complaint against the guy and soon he was caught. After that I ensured a two-factor authentication for my Instagram account so that without my permission no one can access my account.

Eesha Agarwal, model and actor

Identity theft

During my initial modeling days, someone made a fake profile with my name on Facebook and started impersonating me online. He used to chat with girls from Chandigarh and Delhi and used to ask them for their pictures. He gave away my number and I would often get calls from girls waiting for me, or their brothers or male friends abusing me. It even spoilt my relationship with my then girlfriend. So, I went to register an FIR in a police station, and they told me to register it to the cybercrime department. But their response wasn’t that well. So, it woke up my inner detective and learnt how to track coordinates from Facebook’s last uploads. The location was that of Malviya Nagar. Though I didn’t find the guy but he must have seen me looking for him, which made him delete that fake account.

Manish Verma, actor, last seen in Teri Meri Ikk Jindri

Shop smartly!

I had this online scam experience on both Facebook and Instagram. I used to randomly like clothes that appeared on my Facebook feed and once even went on to order one for myself and prepaid the amount to a lady whose page it was. Half a month passed and I still did not get the order so I kept pestering her online. And one fine day, she was invisible. Thus, from now on, I only purchase from websites that have some contact details or I would rather take cash-on-delivery option if it is some local start-up. The other one, happened six months ago when I got a random message from some Insta profile, which appeared to be genuine, offering a simple solution to get a verified account in 24 hours. I was following all the steps duly but by the time I reached the last clause, I felt I was giving the access of my account to that person and so, I immediately stopped.

Geetika Mehandru, actor, currently seen in Chhoti Sardarni

Double check

Recently, Shabana Azmi became a victim of online fraud and she immediately raised an alarm. She wrote, “BEWARE... I have been cheated by them. #Living Liquidz I paid upfront and when the ordered item didnt turn up they stopped picking up my calls! I paid Account no.919171984427..IFSC- PYTM0123456..Name living liquidz..Paytm payment bank.”

Will something be done?

On June 2, my Facebook page was hacked. I was approached by someone online to place an advertisement on my page which ended up in hacking my page. On the top of it, I was asked to pay $ 1000 to regain my page. I had registered a complaint in cyber cell and still hoping for a positive response. Nikeet Dhillon, actor, last seen in Yaar Anmulle Returns

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