Hailakandi, Sep 16 (IANS): Cyber criminals in Assam's Hailakandi town targeted a district and sessions judge by creating a fake Whatsapp account using his name and picture.

Impersonating District and Sessions Judge Sanjay Hazarika, the fraudsters demanded money through the WhatsApp account claiming that he is sick.

The cyber criminals created a WhatsApp account with judge Hazarika's picture on the profile and demanded money from various court staff including his acquaintances.

On Thursday, Hailakandi court manager Arindam Sharma received a message on WhatsApp from a number which has a profile picture of judge Hazarika.

In the message, he was instructed to buy and send 25 Amazon e-gift cards worth 10,000 rupees. Sharma found the matter a little mysterious, and he discussed it with his colleagues.

On discussion, it was found that the court's system officer Praveer Sutradhar also received such a message on his WhatsApp number. They immediately reported the matter to the district judge.

Later, judge Hazarika filed a case in this regard at Hailakandi Sadar Police Station.

The police have started an investigation into the incident.

Superintendent of Police, Gaurav Upadhyay told IANS, "Upon receiving the complaint, we immediately blocked the number and launched surveillance to catch the culprits."