Online scam impersonates Indian cricket icon MS Dhoni, asks for USD 7 help for ‘Thala’

What if former Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni was to text you personally in an emergency? Would you not help the World Cup winning skipper? Perhaps not, because Dhoni does not know you, and definitely did not message you for any petty cash.

Online scams are more than rampant in this day and age. It takes myriad forms and shapes to bottle you into giving away your resources. Impersonating another person to steal your money is a common practice deployed by charlatans of the virtual world.

A screenshot of one such conversation surfaced online. In the screengrab, a scammer impersonating to be MS Dhoni sends an unsolicited message to the individual.

In the message, which appears to have been done on Instagram, the scammer assures his potential victim, that he is Dhoni messaging him from a private account. The scammer said, “Hi I’m MS Dhoni, I’m messaging you from a private account. I am in Ranchi outskirts and I have forgotten wallet.”

Here, ‘MS Dhoni’ asks the person on the other end for money, by saying, “Can you PhonePe me 600₹ [USD 7] so I can return home by bus, will send back once I get home”.

The scammer used the handle mahi77i2, with the Indian tri-colour as the display image. This is similar to the official account of the veteran cricketer, who uses the Instagram handle mahi7781, with a tri-colour for display image.

If this was not ‘convincing enough’, the scammer also shares a ‘selfie’ to prove that it is Dhoni himself. The image shared is of the former Chennai Super Kings skipper in the ‘outskirts’ of a town, matching the message shared.

The person concludes the message, with the Chennai Super Kings slogan/cry of ‘Whistle Podu’.

(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement betweenThe Free Press JournalandConnected to India)