Fraudster with fake account of Speaker, demands money online

An unidentified person was booked by the Crime Branch on Thursday for impersonating Gujarat Assembly Speaker, Rajendra Trivedi, online. An investigation has begun and the accused will be traced through the mobile number that was used to create the Facebook account.

As per the sources, BJP leaders on Thursday received phone calls from several citizens who said that they had received messages from the ‘Rajendra Trivedi Fan Club’ account on Facebook. The operator of the account was asking for money by messaging people. One of the citizens got a message from the fake account asking for Rs. 15,000. Trivedi on Thursday said that one of the party workers was contacted by the accused got the mobile number of the accused.

He further said that ahead of the local body elections, he was being defamed. He appealed to the citizens to not fall for the fraud. “If anyone gets such messages from the fake account, don’t transfer any money,” Trivedi said.

DCP (crime) Jaydeepsinh Jadeja said that Facebook has suspended the account of the accused after they wrote to the authorities.

In October last year, a similar incident had happened. A fraudster had created a fake FB account of BJP MLA Seema Mohile. Senior Congress leader Narendra Rawat’s fake Facebook account was made, and the accused also demanded money from people online.