People in the Cook Islands have been asked to watch out for fake Facebook profiles of prominent Cook Islanders.
Prime Minister Henry Puna and the Queen's Representative Tom Marsters both recently had fake profiles created in their names.
The Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna Photo: RNZ/Daniela Maoate-Cox
The Prime Minister's media advisor, Thomas Wynne, says the public needs to be vigilant with regard to who is sending them friend requests on Facebook, especially when they come from prominent people.
Facebook, which has 2.2 billion active users, admitted in an interview with the English newspaper The Telegraph in November that up to 270 million accounts on the social media network are fake.