The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Monday, 30 May, announced the results of Civil Services Main Examination (CSE) 2021 and Delhi-based Shruti Sharma secured the first rank.
With her achievement, a host of impostor accounts cropped up on Twitter in the her name.
However, we found out that the real Twitter account is '@shrutisharma986', which Sharma herself confirmed to The Quint.
In the past, we have busted several impostor Twitter accounts, including that of Pakistani athlete Arshad Nadeem, actor Naseeruddin Shah, Karnataka's student activist Muskan Khan, and Lok Sabha MP Navneet Rana, which had gone viral following big news breaks.
Fake Accounts Galore, But What Are They Tweeting?
One of the accounts, with the name 'Shruti Sharma IAS', has over 16,000 followers at the time of writing this article.
This account was started in April but the first available tweet is from 30 May, the day the result was declared.
An archive of the account can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
The tweet, which is originally in Hindi, reads, "With the blessings of my parents and the almighty, I have topped UPSC. I thank you all."
The tweet garnered over 30,000 likes and over 2,500 retweets.
An archive of the tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
In another tweet, which also carried photos, she thanked all for her achievement.
An archive of the tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
A pinned tweet on the profile has the photo of Shruti Sharma along with her mother, calling it the "Pic of the day."
An archive of the tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
We noticed several such impostor accounts, which have cropped up on Twitter recently. A few of them can be viewed here: @ShurtiSharmaIAS, @ShrutiS19204863, @iShurtiSharma, @shruti_ias_, @shruti_sharma8, @ShrutiSharmaa1, and @SharmashrutiIas.
Overall, all the impostor accounts have attached the same photos and tweets, including news articles about her.
Host of impostor accounts of Shruti Sharma on Twitter.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
Ironically, one of the impostor accounts ‘@ShrutiS19204863’ tweeted, “There are lot of fake accounts being made on my name on Twitter. (sic)”
An archive of the tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
Sharma's Official Twitter Account Is '@shrutisharma986'
We reached out to Sharma, who told The Quint that her official Twitter account is 'shrutisharma986'.
Next, we checked the account 'shrutisharma986' which has 215 followers at the time of writing this article, and it shows that she had joined in January 2016.
While Sharma does have a Twitter account, she is not very active on microblogging platform and has not posted anything after she cleared the UPSC exam.
The official Twitter account of Shruti Sharma.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
Clearly, several imposter accounts have come up on Twitter after Sharma cleared the prestigious civil services exam, rising to fame.
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