JAAGTE RAHO: You could fall prey to Identity cloning

Unidentified miscreants created a fake Facebook page for ACP Lucknow Central, Abhay Kumar Mishra and tried to extract money from his contacts through fake appeals. This method used by cybercriminals is known as identity cloning.

Hyderabad: The COVID-19-induced lockdown saw a surge in cybercrimes in India.

In a similar incident, ACP Central Abhay Kumar Mishra in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow was recently targeted by unidentified crooks on Facebook. By creating his fake Facebook account, the cybercriminals messaged few friends from his friend list- demanding an amount of Rs 5000 urgently.

The case surfaced when one of Mishra's friends, contacted him for clarification and asked about the event.

Thereafter, Abhay Kumar Mishra reported the case to Lucknow's Cyber Crime Cell who initiated the investigation on a priority basis.

What is Identity Cloning?

As many as twelve such cases of fake accounts have come to Cyber Crime Cell's notice- where the fraudulent messages were sent to the friends and relatives on social media platforms.

Commenting on the event, ACP Cybercrime Vivek Ranjan Rai said that such crimes can be avoided if the internet users become more aware."

We also launched an awareness program and issued some guidelines for social media users to avoid such cybercrimes," Rai told ETV Bharat.

"In such an event, the user should lock his profile picture so that it may not be downloaded by crooks. Secondly, the user should hide his/her friend list," informed Rai.

Know expert's view on Identity cloning: