A Simon Bridges impostor is using Facebook to dupe people into becoming his online friends, including a cabinet minister who has been "sucked in" by the fake social media page.
The page was set up yesterday using the same profile and cover photographs Mr Bridges uses on his page.
MrBridges usually uses his Facebook page to keep followers updated with his progress and stance on controversial issues.
Yesterday, Mr Bridges used the page to warn people about the fake "Simon Bridges" page befriending people.
By 2pm yesterday, the fake page had gained 36 new friends before it appeared to have been removed from Facebook.
"Over my relatively short political career I've had several Facebook webpages and Twitter fakes so I suppose it just becomes normal," he said.
Other fake pages include a tongue-in-cheek 'Simon Bridges' page which pokes fun at the Tauranga MP with crude cut and pastes of his head on top of other pictures and references to his ranking as one of the more "handsome" MPs in Parliament.
Mr Bridges laughed at what was on the page and said he expected there was a sector within New Zealand that hated him and perhaps that was a motivating factor behind the page set-up, "or maybe it means I'm doing something".
"I think it does go with the territory ..."
Mr Bridges said he never befriended anyone on Facebook so any friend requests saying they were from him were not genuine.
He warned people online about the fake page because sometimes scammers attempted to use someone's profile to extort money out of online friends. "The other thing could be that this is more politically motivated ..." Mr Bridges said.
