Ajay Bhupathi, the Telugu film director best known for the film Rx 100 has filed a complaint with the Hyderabad Cybercrime police alleging that an unknown man has been impersonating him and seeking nude pictures of women over social media. The filmmaker, speaking to TNM, claims that as many as six women have come forward claiming to have been duped into thinking they were interacting with the director.
Hyderabad Cybercrime police told TNM that the conman claiming to be Ajay Bhupathi had approached three women aspiring to be actors, asking them to send him their pictures over WhatsApp.
Speaking to TNM, Ajay Bhupathi said he first got wind of a conman using his name to exploit women two weeks ago. "I was approached 15 days ago over Facebook by a woman trying to figure out if I and the conman are the same people. I ignored the issue after clarifying that I wasn't the person she was interacting with. Then ten days ago, another woman from Chennai approached me, and then a third woman approached. That's when I decided to file a police complaint,” said the filmmaker, who was approached by three more women with complaints about the conman after he addressed the media on Friday.
Hello, I filed a Cyber Crime case against a fraudster (7995267901) using my name to trap women in the name of Casting Calls.
— Ajay Bhupathi (@DirAjayBhupathi) July 3, 2020
The official announcements of my films will be out on Trusted sources only.
Stay cautious & beware of such incidents happening around.@CyberCrimeshyd
K V M Prasad, the Assistant Commissioner of Police for Hyderabad Cyber Crime division, told TNM that the conman approached the women over WhatsApp offering to select them for roles in movies based on appearance. “The accused asked some of these women to send nude pictures over WhatsApp. The intention is to blackmail and exploit these women once they send these pictures," the officer said, adding that no money was exchanged between the conman and his victims.
Police said they are yet to nab the accused who is suspected to be an Andhra Pradesh native. "We are confident of tracing the accused. This is the second case that has come to light. Earlier, another person used the same modus operandi pretending to be actor Vijay Devarakonda. We traced and nabbed that conman," said the officer, who expressed confidence in nabbing the accused in the present case.
The officer also warned the public not to share their private pictures with strangers online, "It is advisable to share pictures only after physical verification of the person claiming to be a celebrity or a politician."