The cyber cell of the Mumbai crime branch on Saturday arrested a 30-year-old BCom graduate for allegedly making a fake Facebook (FB) profile posing as producer of Star Plus channel and inviting clients and using the official logo of the channel. The legal head of the channel lodged a complaint stating the accused had no authority to do so following which the arrest was made.
According to the cyber cell led by DCP M. Raj Kumar, the accused (identity withheld on request) is currently working as a customer executive in a reputed private multinational firm and is an Andheri resident. The accused first made a fake rediff e-mail id and then used it to make the fake FB profile in the name of Rohan Varma (not his real name). He then made a FB page last year posing as ‘Channel producer of Star Plus’ ‘Proprietor at talent house India and Proprietor of creative arts’, the police said.
Varma used the official logo on this page and invited clients to take his help to make “programmes” which he would represent before the channel. After the concerned authorities in Star India Private Limited learnt about this, their legal head on December 8 last year was sent to the cyber cell, where an FIR was registered against an unknown person under section 419 (Punishment for cheating by personation) of the Indian Penal Code and 66 C (punishment for identity theft) and D (Punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology Act.
Varma was traced to his Andheri residence and subsequently placed under arrest on Saturday. Varma in his police statement said he made a “mistake” and did not intend to cheat anyone. He wanted to get commissions from the clients and claimed that he had used the channel’s logo by mistake. During investigations, the police found that Varma’s page had attracted 50 people. It’s being probed if he did manage to cheat any person.
