Athletes plagued by fake Twitter accounts

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Washington Capitals defenseman Jeff Schultz says he is one of a growing number of professional athletes plagued by imposter Twitter accounts.

The NHL player said the @jeffschultz55 account available through the social networking service is not actually his account, but offers fictional training camp updates to hundreds of people following the Twitter account, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

"The fans, I'm sure, all know about it. What if someone puts up the wrong thing? People might get the wrong impression of the type of person you are or the things you do in your free time," Schultz told the Post.

The @jeffschultz55 Twitter account does identify itself as a parody account, but only in fine print in a section labeled "Bio."

Kathleen Hessert of Sports Media Challenge said Shaquille O'Neal faced a similar parody Twitter account before her company advised the NBA star to create his own account.

"Something else we've done on behalf of our clients with the fake (Twitter accounts) is reach out to them and say, 'We love that you're a fan. But real fans won't do this to the people they follow,'" Hessert told the Post.