Bollywood actress Vidya Balan has complained that someone was impersonating her, using a fake Instagram account and e-mail ID and cheating people from the film industry, a Mumbai Police official said yesterday, adding that a case had been registered.
According to the first information report (FIR) registered at the Khar police station in Mumbai on Monday, the crime came to light on January 16 when a stylist associated with movies received a WhatsApp message from an unidentified number. The message claimed that the sender was Vidya Balan, who wanted to discuss work with the stylist.
Since the stylist already had the actress’s contact details, he suspected something was not right about the message from an unknown number. He then informed Vidya Balan about the message, the police official said.
The actress told the stylist that she had not sent him any message, and that the number from where the message came did not belong to her.
Between January 17 and 19, following the alert from the stylist, Vidya Balan learnt that someone had created a fake Instagram profile and a bogus e-mail ID, claiming that it belonged to her, and that unidentified persons were using this social media account and the fake mail ID to contact people in Bollywood and others to “discuss work”, the official said.
Alarmed by this attempt to cheat others using her name, the actress asked her manager to approach the Khar police station. Accordingly, a written complaint was submitted on January 20, said the FIR.
On Monday (February 19), the actress also lodged a complaint, resulting in the FIR for identity theft under Section 66 (c) of the IT Act, said the official, adding that a probe was underway.