Young Man Impersonates Indian Vice President, Creates Fake WhatsApp To 'Seek Favors'

An Indian man living in Europe attempted to gain favors from senior government officials while impersonating his country's vice president online, according to police.

Delhi Police's Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) have arrested the expatriate, identified as a 22-year-old living in Italy named Gagandeep Singh, the Indian Express reported.

Singh, a native of the northern Indian city of Jammu who had lived in Italy since 2007, created a WhatsApp account that used a photo of Indian Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, authorities said Monday.

"Using this impersonating account, he started sending messages to senior government officials to seek favors from senior bureaucracy," IFSO Deputy Commissioner of Police Prashant Gautam said, according to a report by NDTV.

The favors Singh asked for were unclear.

Before impersonating Dhankhar, Singh watched several videos on YouTube and acquired officials' contact details from the internet, Gautam claimed.

A case was reportedly registered after someone informed the police about Singh's actions.

"Immediately, details of the impersonating WhatsApp profile were obtained from WhatsApp and the IP address of the sender was traced to Italy," Gautam said.

Authorities then collected information about Singh from the Foreigners' Regional Registration Office, banks and the regional passport office.

Singh and an associate, identified as Ashwani Kumar, 29, were arrested at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

Kumar, who is a resident of Samana, Punjab, provided Singh with a one-time password using an Indian phone number, police said.

It was unclear what charges the d in connection to the incident.

Authorities were able to recover five phones used in Singh's impersonation scheme.

Dhankhar's office did not have any information about the case, an unnamed senior official from the office said, according to a report by the Hindustan Times.

"We came about this matter from media reports. The police will do the probe," the official claimed.

More than 27 million Indian adults experienced identity theft in 2021, according to the 2021 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report.

The same report found that 63% of Indian consumers felt they have become more vulnerable to cybercrimes since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

A total of 44,683,454 coronavirus cases and 530,745 virus-related deaths have been recorded in India, data provided by the World Health Organization showed.