How To Deal With Your Duplicate Profile/Impersonation on Orkut!

This article is my best possible help for all orkut users, victim of some sort of impersonation. It will show you how to deal with your duplicate profile on Orkut.

To start with, here is what Orkut’s Impersonation Notification says,

“To file an impersonation claim, you must demonstrate that you are the person being impersonated. To be considered impersonation, the profile name will likely need to match (or be very similar to) your legal name.”

Point to be noted – Offending profile must have name similar to (if not exact) your legal name not your Orkut profile name.

There are few more things mentioned on Orkut help page. Read them carefully…

# Preparation Part…

• If you are not Orkut User – You can still file a claim without opening account on Orkut. But to get Orkut Profile Name & URL you have to seek help of a friend who have account on Orkut.
• Scanning a photo ID – As its mandatory to attach a valid photo ID, get it scanned as clearly as possible. If you are good at digital photography then you may try taking a snap of photo ID. But using scanner is always better! Also I will not recommend use of your college ID as its less authentic compare to driving license or national ID (such as voters ID in India). Update: Uploading photo is not required anymore.
  
• Orkut Profile Name & URL – If you have never used orkut or very unfamiliar with its technical jargon then check following screenshot. I have highlighted orkut profile name and orkut profile URL below which will be needed to file impersonation claim.

# Filing an Impersonation Form…

Now open impersonation form. It has total 9 fields. Some are optional.

1. Your legal name: Name of the document you are attaching.
2. Your email address: Give an email address where orkut can contact you.
3. Email address (confirm):   (Same as above)
4. Your orkut profile name (if you have one): (not needed if you have no orkut account)
5. Your orkut profile URL (if you have one):  (not needed if you have no orkut account)
6. The fake orkut profile name: Copy and paste fake orkut profile name (see screenshot)
7. The fake orkut profile URL: Copy and paste fake orkut profile URL (see screenshot)
8. Please attach … photo ID : Upload scanned document here.
9. Additional details (if needed): This field is optional but please try to give some important details which can help Orkut identify you as real an offending profile as fake.

After filling all details and submitting a form you will get following response…

“Thank you for submitting your report. We will investigate and take action as necessary. Please note that we will not contact you unless we need more information to review your claim. If you’ve reported a profile and continue to see it after a week, it’s likely that it did not meet our conditions for removal.”

# What if above fails…

DON’T…

• Ask your friend to report fake profile and making an impersonation claim on your behalf. This is not allowed by Orkut.
• Try or ask anyone to hack fake account. You may land yourself in legal troubles.

DO …

• Try to file another impersonation form. With uttermost care. If you are not sure about any clause/terms seek technical help. You may contact us.
• Try filing a complaint with The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
• Indian user may visit Cyber Crime Investigation Cell

No matter what happens, do not indulge in any criminal act like hacking or password stealing. Its always better to trust local legal authorities than a stranger claiming to help you in virtual world.

(Personal Note: Consider this as my replay to all mails/scraps/comments about the issue. I can not and will not hack any orkut users account for anyone. Not even for money or any other reason. So stop making me such idiotic offers.)