Kolkata Police has launched an investigation after a fake social media profile was allegedly created in the name of former West Bengal minister and ex-chief secretary Manish Gupta, officials said on Monday.

Police said the cyber fraudsters had opened a fake Facebook account using Gupta's name and photograph.

"They also used his photo as a display picture on a WhatsApp number from which they sent messages to several of his acquaintances," the officer said.

Since the Facebook profile and WhatsApp display picture carried the former bureaucrat's image, many of his acquaintances initially believed the messages to be genuine, police said.

The fraudsters allegedly sent messages to Gupta's acquaintances seeking money, claiming that the funds were urgently needed for a special purpose, one of the investigating officers said.

"Believing the messages to be real, some people reportedly transferred money to the bank accounts provided by the fraudsters," he said.

After learning about the incident, Gupta alerted his contacts and later lodged a formal complaint with the Cyber Police Station at Lalbazar, the city police headquarters.

"Our cyber fraud detectives suspect that the fraudsters may be operating from another state and are part of a network that creates fake profiles of well-known individuals to cheat people," he said.

Police are trying to trace the mobile number used to send the fraudulent WhatsApp messages, he said.

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