Man posing as Vikram on social media to lure fans nabbed

Actor Vikram Chatterjee has become the latest victim of identity theft, with an impersonator using the actor’s social media information to open fake accounts and lure female fans into conversation. When he was made aware of this, Vikram lodged a complaint with the

Kolkata Police

cyber cell back in August. The impersonator, reportedly a man in his 20s from the districts, was arrested on Thursday.

Speaking to CT, Vikram said, “I was told of this impostor by common friends. I felt the need to take the matter up and immediately lodged a complaint with the cyber cell. I got to know from friends last night that he has been nabbed.” Police were tight-lipped about the arrest and refused to divulge the details.

It has emerged that people associated with the entertainment industry had already noticed the impostor’s activities on social media. A corporate professional, speaking on terms of anonymity, told us, “I was an artiste manager and had spoken to Vikram professionally before. I was to meet him for work purpose, but that got cancelled because of his accident. Around this time, I got a friend request from a person by the same name on Facebook. Soon, we exchanged numbers as he said he had taken a new SIM card and started chatting on WhatsApp. He’d speak to me on video but would strategically hide himself, saying that he had a faulty front camera. I had my doubts, as his voice didn’t sound like Vikram’s. I reached out to a TV actress, who advised me to stop speaking to the guy immediately. Soon after, Vikram lodged a complaint with the

cyber cell

and I came to know I was talking to an impostor.”

According to those harassed, the impostor would also send dubbed videos lifted from Vikram’s social media accounts to convince women of his
identity. Vikram’s friend and actress Oindrila Sen told us, “I’m not very active on social media but when I was told that a girl was depressed because she had been duped by someone posing as Vikram, I had to bring it to his notice. He had no idea about this and immediately filed a police complaint.”
Another woman, who chose not to be named, said, “The impostor told me that incoming calls on his number were blocked; so I could never reach him on my own. He was technically very sound. I doubted him because the way he spoke was different from how Vikram speaks. He, however, tried his best to sound like him. It was only after he started asking me for selfies that I realised it wasn’t Vikram after all. I later spoke to Vikram through one of our common friends and he was clueless about the impersonator.”