Panaji, Apr 26 (IANS): Days after unknown persons created a fake ID of Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai and sent messages to various journalists seeking money, the Raj Bhavan on Monday has urged people who have been targetted by the scamsters to be cautious.

"The Governor's Secretariat has already filed a complaint with the Goa Police and the Crime Branch of Goa Police is investigating the matter. It is learnt that the impersonator has sent such WhatsApp messages to several journalists and VIPs," it said in a statement.

"Any persons who have received such messages are requested not to pay any heed and inform the police," it added.

The Crime Branch already started a probe last week after a person claiming to be Pillai had sent WhatsApp messages to several journalists, requesting urgent payment via Google or Amazon Pay.

In July last year, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's Facebook account too was cloned and requests for money via UPI were sent to several persons across Goa.

In November, unknown persons also tried to phish Sawant's bank details when the Chief Minister was on an official visit to Delhi.

"I was also surprised by this. I was wondering why? I flipped open my purse and even pulled out my Aadhar card, then it suddenly occurred to me, why should I share my Aadhar card number, let my account be frozen. No issues. So I did not share my Aadhar card number," the Chief Minister had said then.