Maluma Impostor: Singer Reacts To Arrest Of Man Using His Image For Child Pornography

After five months of investigation, the Police Department in Cali, Colombia confirmed the arrest of Breiner Alirio Rivera Soto, a man who was pretending to be Colombian urban star Maluma on social media in order to obtain compromising photos of minors, sources say.

According to authorities, the 23-year-old man used his expertise on computer engineering to create a fake profile on Facebook under Maluma’s name, and allured young women into sending him intimate photos and videos of them. Police officials report he contacted girls as young as nine years old.

Reports disclosed Rivera Soto’s capture was made possible after one of the victims confessed she was being extorted by a man online. “He started with one girl, then he sent friend requests to some of her friends. Most of them accepted the friendship because he was using a photo of the singer Maluma as his profile picture,” one of the investigators told El Universal Colombia.

RCN informs the man’s modus operandi was to threaten the girls (9 to 12 years old) to publish their photos on the web if they didn’t do what he was asking of them. Fifteen hard drives, five tablets, nine mobile phones and fifteen memory sticks with pornographic material were found in the crime scene.

As soon as the news broke, Maluma sent a message to his fans expressing his relief after finfing out the impostor was finally caught. “I just want to tell you that I’m a little sad, but at the same time I’m very satisfied because the law definitely came forward in this case, especially since, you know, everything that’s been going on in my country, Colombia,” the 22-year-old singer told TVyNovelas. “There was this person pretending to be me to make child pornography. Thanks to the law for making things right and arrest him. I was told he is already in jail, and I think that the National police did a great job with that.”

The “Borro Cassette” performer took the chance to tell his fans and followers that his personal accounts on social media are run by him, and he would never dare to do something like that. “For nothing in this world would I ever do that. And for nothing in this world would anyone working with me would ask for naked pictures to give access to one of my concerts.”