An impostor has been messaging influential people on WhatsApp under the guise of the Bollywood filmmaker, asking for phone numbers of fashion and film celebrities
Vikram Bhatt
There is a new Raaz giving Bollywood movie director Vikram Bhatt some serious trouble. No, it isn't another movie, but an impostor, who is messaging influential people under Bhatt's name and asking them for contact details of celebrities.
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Bhatt has mentioned the impostor on his Facebook page and his assistant complained to the Versova police station on March 1, but nothing has been done to nail the culprit. FILE PIC
Bhatt says he is aware of it, and has even mentioned it on his Facebook page. His assistant complained to the Versova police station on March 1 in the matter as well but nothing has been done to nail the impostor.
One of the impostor's targets was Viren Shah, the owner of clothing store, Roopam. Last Thursday, Shah received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number, telling him it was Vikram Bhatt and he needed to speak to him urgently. Shah decided to help, only to later realise that it was an impostor who claimed to be Bhatt.
The messages sent to Viren Shah, owner of the clothing store Roopam, asking for numbers of fashion designers and actors.
Shah, without realising the truth about the impostor — who had Vikram Bhatt's image as his display picture on WhatsApp — shared a few contact numbers of bigwigs. Shah received the first message on Thursday, which read — 'How are you, I am Vikram Bhatt, can we talk at this time, urgent.'
Designers to actors
Post this, Shah received another message from the impostor asking for numbers of fashion designers Manish Malhotra, Sandeep Khosla, Abu Jani, Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit Pal, Ritu Beri and others. After this, the impostor asked whether he could help him with numbers of film actors and magazine publishers.
Read Story: Hrithik Roshan complains to cops about online imposter
He specifically asked for numbers of comedian Kapil Sharma, Bigg Boss contestant Prince Narula and actor Aamna Sharif. The impostor also asked for the number of actors Huma Qureshi, Sunny Leone, Katrina Kaif and Nargis Fakhri, and asked Shah whether he wants to work in his film.
'Realised he's fake'
Shah didn't give the numbers to the impostor and told him that he has asked all those people to message him instead. “Now for first two chats, I thought he might be genuine because he asked for contact numbers of fashion designers, but the moment he went on to actors and other stupid matters, I realised that this guy is fake. Then, I tried to find out his real motive and started playing along,” said Shah.
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The impostor even messaged Shah saying that he was out of the country. Incidentally, Bhatt is currently in Romania shooting for a film. When mid-day contacted Vikram Bhatt, he confirmed he is aware that someone is impersonating him and misusing his name.
“I filed a complaint at the Versova police station, but seems they have done nothing. I am shooting in Romania and even released a statement on Facebook,” he said.
Cop says
When contacted, Kiran Kale, senior police inspector of Versova Police station, said he would have to look into the matter.
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