Fake Twitter Account of Dr Kafeel Khan Gains Traction After Bail

Several social media users shared tweets from the fake account.

Dr Kafeel Khan was granted bail on 1 September by the Allahabad High Court, revoking the National Security Act (NSA) charges against him.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Dr Kafeel Khan was granted bail on Tuesday, 1 September, by the Allahabad High Court, which revoked the National Security Act (NSA) charges against him.

Now, a fake account on Twitter seems to have gained traction as the ‘official’ account of Khan. The account tweeted, “Asslam alaikum (sic)” at 11:09 am on Tuesday, 1 September, which was retweeted by several social media users, along with other tweets claiming to be tweeted by Khan himself.

An archived version of the tweet can be found here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

You can view an archived version here. (Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

You can view an archived version here. https://archive.is/RNjDu(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Another tweet was also shared by users stating, "आज मुझे बेल मिल गयी, मेरे लिए दुआ करने के लिए आप सबका तहे-दिल से शुक्रिया"

(Translate: "Today I got bail, I thank you all for praying for me.")

You can view an archived version here. https://archive.is/ZoFMH(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The fake account had also retweeted a user sharing his account as the “official account” of Dr Kafeel Khan.

You can view an archived version here. (Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND

The account had changed its Twitter bio several times on 1 September.

When called out by several account users as a fake account, the user added, “parody account” to its bio.

Screenshots from tools to analyse Twitter accounts, Foller.me and Tweetbeaver, captured around 6:00 pm, show the words, "parody account" in the account's bio.

(Photo: Foller.me/Screenshot)

(Photo: Tweetbeaver/Screenshot)

However, the user again deleted the words, “parody account” from their bio, probably in an attempt to gain more followers.

Screenshot from Tweetbeaver, captured at 8:00 pm, shows the updated bio.

(Photo: Tweetbeaver/Screenshot)

The analysis tools also reveal that the account was created quite recently, in January 2020.

Further, the word 'lecturer' has also been misspelled as "lecture" in the account's bio.

(Photo: Twitter/Screenshot)

The images used by the account are file photos of Khan from news agencies, PTI and IANS.

Evidently, the account @dr_kafeel_ is impersonating Dr Kafeel Khan to gain followers on Twitter.

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