One more held by Mumbai police in fake social media followers racket
Jul 23, 2020
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 23 : One more person has been arrested by Mumbai police on Wednesday in fake social media followers case. A 29-year-old Kashif Mansoor was held for allegedly selling fake followers.
As per the Mumbai police, Mansoor, a civil engineer, has completed 25,000 orders till date and sold 2.3 crores fake followers, till date.
Last week, Mumbai police arrested a man who made a fake profile of Bollywood playback singer and claimed that he manages her social media accounts. The accused contacted some Bollywood personalities and claimed he can increase their social media followers the way he increased singer's followers.
One of the choreographers fell for the trap and paid the accused. But after some time, he realised something was wrong. He contacted the singer and it was then she realised her fake profile was made. Later, a complaint was filed with the Mumbai police in this regard.
After lodging the complaint and arresting the accused, Mumbai police realised that it is a huge scam.
During the investigation, the SIT found about 100 companies selling fake social media followers.
Now, the probe agency has identified 68 companies selling fake followers and fake social media activities like retweets, likes, views, subscriptions, comments etc.
The agency has recorded around 20 statements in the matter.
Notably, the SIT has also written to France government (via MEA) and sought details of FollowersKart, one of the main accused company (France based). This is the rate card of Kashif Mansoor's company.