Jung Il-woo warns fans of Twitter impersonator

Korean actor Jung Il-woo is the latest celebrity victim to have his online identity stolen by a Twitter impersonator, according to his agency N.O.A Entertainment on Thursday.

N.O.A said in a press release that they have discovered that Jung had a Twitter account opened up by an impersonator, similar to incidents recently reported by actors Lee Min-ho and Kim So-eun.

Both Lee and Kim had warned fans that fake account had been opened up under their names on Twitter, a popular social networking and micro-blogging site, by someone pretending to be them on the Internet.

"I feel more baffled than anything... Twitter impersonating happens very often these days but I didn't think it would happen to me," Jung was quoted as saying upon hearing the news. "I hope that people around me as well as other celebrities do not get hurt or get a scandal over this. More than anything, I would like to ask fans to be careful."

On Jung's fake Twitter page (http://twitter.com/jilwoostory), the impersonator had posted numerous comments and pictures pretending to be the actor. He had even registered as a 'follower' to the official Twitter account recently opened up by actor Lee Min-ho, a close friend of Jung, and left a message on Lee's page.

The fake Twitter page has been closed as of now from being viewed, although not deleted. A message on the opening page shows a lock and reads, "This person has protected their tweets."

In the case of actress Kim So-eun, explained an official at N.O.A, the online impersonator had voluntarily deleted the Twitter account soon after a press release was sent out and the agency has not pressed legal charges as of yet.

However, with the increasing cases of Twitter impersonations of its artists, the agency is said to be looking into how to deal with the issue. Other Korean celebrity victims include Hallyu star Lee Byung-hun, singer Son Dambi and pop group Girls' Generation.

Twitter currently does not require any verification from its users and anyone can open up an account with just an email address and ID.

Jung, 22, made his debut in 2006 through popular sitcom "High Kick!" (MBC, 2006) and has since starred in several notable dramas including "The Return of Iljimae" (MBC, 2009) and "My Fair Lady" (KBS2, 2009).

Reporter : Lynn Kim lynn2878@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@