Dubai: Prominent Dubai-based Indian businessman Rizwan Sajan has lodged a police complaint about a fake Facebook account seeking donations in his name.
The founder and chairman of Danube Group said he was left aghast when he came across the fake Facebook profile asking for contributions through an online crowdfunding platform based out of India.
“I immediately alerted the e-crime department of Dubai Police and also lodged a complaint with Facebook. The account has since been removed,” Sajan told Gulf News on Tuesday.
He has also put up a Facebook post cautioning people against accepting friend requests or responding to any messages seeking money in his name.
“Please note that someone has again created a fake account under my name and is sending random messages to many of my friends. If you get a friend request or any such random message asking for contributions or donations, do not friend them or revert to any messages. We have already processed a cyber complaint and hope to catch the culprit soon,” Sajan said in a Facebook post accompanied by a screenshot of the fake profile and the messsage sent by the cybercriminal to one of his (Sajan’s) friends.
Sajan said he found out about the cloned account through a friend last week. “The cybercriminal contacted him via Facebook messenger and sought funds for a child purportedly suffering from a blood disorder. He even sent him a webpage link of the crowdfunding platform where the donation had to be wired. Luckily, my friend suspected something was amiss and contacted me,” said Sajan, adding that this was the third time in recent years when someone had made his fake profile on Facebook.
What is Facebook account cloning?
Facebook account cloning is a simple scam — but it’s easy to tricked by it. A cloned or fake account is a copy, that uses your profile picture and other public information to delude your friends into giving up their information. It may even convince them to send them money or other information, or dupe them into other scams.
How do I know if my Facebook account has been cloned?
Search Facebook for your name to see if there are other accounts pretending to be you. But you’re far more likely to find out your account has been cloned when your friends notice unusual behaviour from you on Facebook.
What should I do if my Facebook account has been cloned?
Facebook doesn’t allow accounts to impersonate others, so if you find a clone account you should report it to Facebook. Just go to the cloned profile and:
- Click the “…” icon in the upper right of their profile page
- Select “Give feedback or report this profile”
- Follow the instructions onscreen to report the account for impersonating you
Once you’ve reported the page, post to your timeline and tell friends not to accept new friend requests from you, and to ignore any messages that might be scams.
