Would the real James Tien please stand up? Former Hong Kong lawmaker has pictures stolen for seven fake Facebook accounts, and the latest one makes him Nigerian
An oil rig worker, a private contractor in California, and a man with an African background – pictures of Manhattan Group chairman have been used on profiles for all
Former Hong Kong lawmaker James Tien Pei-chun has been many people over the years.
He’s been “George Gavino”, who studied at the University of Liverpool; he has been Tai Wing Keung, a private contractor living in Ontario, California; and he has been an offshore oil rig worker called Chang Lin Ryan.
In all, Tien’s face has appeared on seven other Facebook profiles – and he did not create any of them.
The latest, in the name of Allen Zhong, was discovered on Tuesday, and used a selfie Tien took in Hokkaido, Japan, in April. He’s also been George Tien, Dee Stanley, and Bojing Cheung.
In every profile, Tien is listed as single, which probably comes as surprise to his wife and children.
The fact Zhong has more than 400 friends, most of whom are women, would suggest the accounts are being used for one of the many online romance scams plaguing the city. The account identifies Zhong as “that Igala boy”, a reference to an ethnic group in Nigeria.
Not that Tien thinks fake accounts using his picture will have been used for that purpose.
“I don’t think using my photo as profile picture will make an account popular immediately,” he said.