School staffer fakes Facebook profile of artiste for money

Hyderabad: A private school employee created a fake Facebook profile of a Tollywood character artiste and used the account to collect money from different people in the name of charity. The accused, M. Sandeep Kumar, 27, the assistant general manager and public relation officer of Narayana College in Vijayawada, sent messages to the victim’s friends on FB and asked them to donate money for orphan children.

The victim, actor Siri Sri, approached the police and lodged a complaint after she came to know of the incident through her relatives. Hyderabad Cyber Crime police arrested the accused on Saturday. Police recovered Rs 40,000 from him.

Sandeep, who belongs to Indra Colony, Tiruvuru, Krishna District, had copied all photographs of the victim from her original profile and uploaded them on fake one before sending friend requests to her FB friends.

“He sent messages to my friends and acquaintances introducing an initiative to support orphan children. He also sent bank account numbers asking them to deposit their donations. Most of my acquaintances in film industry got these messages. So, they started asking me about it,” said the actor. She added that it had started affecting her professional relationship in the industry, so she was compelled to approach the police.

Pala Raju, DCP, detective department, said that Sandeep keenly followed her original account every day and updated the same in the fake account daily. “Many people deposited money for charity in the bank accounts he provided. He collected a total of '52,000 from different people,” Mr Raju said.

Siri Sri, who acted in a recent Tollywood film Tungabhadra, said that she did not know the accused.

Following an investigation, police traced the accused tracking his IP address and brought him to Hyderabad.