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This is an archive article published on July 22, 2020
Mumbai: 29-yr-old man ‘running portal providing paid social media followers’ held
An officer said they arrested a man, identified as Kashif Mansoor, who owned and operated a website, www.amvsmm.com, which provided "fake followers".
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According to police, Mansoor’s company has, so far, completed approximately 25,000 orders resulting in approximately 2.3 crore followers, likes, etc. (Representational)
The Mumbai Crime Branch on Wednesday arrested a 29-year-old Jogeshwari resident, who allegedly ran a portal that provided followers, views, subscribers, and likes to profiles on social media on payment. This is part of a probe conducted by a special investigation team (SIT) into the ‘social media fake followers scam’. Before this, the owner of another website, followerskart.com, was arrested.
An officer said they arrested a man, identified as Kashif Mansoor, who owned and operated a website, http://www.amvsmm.com, which provided “fake followers”. According to police, Mansoor’s company has, so far, completed approximately 25,000 orders resulting in approximately 2.3 crore followers, likes, etc.
Police said the website showed a rate card of different services, ranging from Instagram reel views to comments. They added that several websites offered these services used by politicians, film promotions, and social media influencers, among others.
After playback singer Bhoomi Trivedi filed a formal complaint after she discovered a fake profile in her name, police formed an SIT to bust the racket.
Last week, actor Koena Mitra too approached the police about a fake profile in her name being misused on social media.
An officer said while initially they identified 54 such websites, they now have a list of 68 portals providing these services. “We will arrest the owners of all such portals,” an officer said. So far, the police have recorded the statements of several persons, including film directors, who used these services.
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