Actor Shantanu Bhagyaraj on Wednesday lodged a complaint with the city police commissioner stating that his Facebook page had been copied, and money had been taken from his friends and fans.
Speaking to The Hindu , Shantanu, son of actor-director K. Bhagyaraj, said he had opened a Facebook account and had been interacting with his friends and fans on chat and uploading pictures from his film shoots.
They even made phone calls pretending to be me, and in some cases asked my friends to recharge their mobile phones,” he said. “A few months ago, someone created a fake Facebook page using my name and with photographs I had posted. They started interacting with my fans and friends and asked them for money. They took money ranging from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000 from a few of them.”
While one man made calls posing as the actor, his accomplice would go and collect the money from various people, saying he was sent by the actor.
“I came to know about this fraud through a film director. He had left a message for me on the fake page, and hadn’t received a response. I happened to meet him recently and he asked why I hadn’t responded, and showed me the page,” Shantanu said.
The actor made inquiries and realised the extent of the fraud. He then alerted all his fans and friends.
The complaint has been taken up by cyber crime cell and a probe has been launched, police said.
