FORMER Ms. World Guyana, Olive Gopaul, is very concerned that her character is being destroyed allegedly by a former athlete who has been impersonating her over the phone as she seeks financial assistance from several business entities to acquire foreign medical attention.

When the Guyana Chronicle spoke with Ms Gopaul at her West Coast Demerara home on Monday night, she explained that she first got wind of the development when persons began emailing and telephoning her in relation to the calls they had received from the woman who was pretending to be her.
Ms Gopaul said that, for some reason, the impersonator sounds like her, and that is what has been fooling many of the persons she had approached, including persons with whom Ms Gopaul has a business interest.
The alleged impersonator has also approached other persons with whom Ms Gopaul is unfamiliar as she reportedly continues to target persons and businesses within Georgetown.
Ms Gopaul said that at first she thought the revelations were a coincidence, but when she got a call from another city businessman who happens to be a relative of hers, she began taking the development seriously.
Ms Gopaul said she has been able to confirm that the impersonator is suffering from cancer and is indeed in need of medical attention.
The police had reportedly arrested and detained the impersonator two weekends ago, but she was released after pleading with Ms Gopaul not to legally pursue the matter. The impersonator has even spent a weekend in the East La Penitence Police Station lockups.
Ms Gopaul said the police informed her that the woman cannot be charged with impersonation since she has not been showing up to receive the monies as though she were Olive Gopaul. Although the impersonator calls and pretends to be Olive Gopaul, when she confronts her potential sponsors and assistance givers, she does so in her name.
The imposter told the beauty queen that she resorted to using her name because when she asked for the assistance in her own name, persons were not very receptive. The imposter said she decided to pretend to be Olive Gopaul, and that worked for her, and she stuck with it as she sought assistance.
“She said she was going to stop and that I should not allow it to be a police matter; but I am concerned, because she is using my name and it is working for her and the wheel is already in motion and she will not stop,” Ms Gopaul declared.
According to Gopaul, the woman has no intention of stopping since, after she was released from the police lockups, she continued doing what she was doing, the last such occasion being on Monday when she collected $11,000 from a gentleman.
Based on the information reaching Gopaul and her family members, the woman was able to solicit sums of $50,000, $20,000, $10,000, $5,000 and $11,000.
She said the imposter actions are very detrimental to her own business interests, because she has an assistant who works with her, and now that this has surfaced, it will be difficult for her assistant to overcome clients’ skepticism over the telephone.
Ms Gopaul is presently in the business of media consultancy and public relations services. She said the imposter has told everyone whom she had called that (she) the patient is in dire need of the assistance, and that she would be travelling that very night to Trinidad. Among the businesses the impersonator had approached over the phone whilst pretending to be Olive Gopaul are: Night Rider Bus Service, Rosignol Butchery, and several businesses with which Ms Gopaul has an interest, while others are not known to her.
Ms Gopaul said she has no idea what method the woman has been using to connect with the business people she is approaching.
Although the police advised the former beauty queen that the issues is not one that amounts to a criminal act, Gopaul said the woman’s impersonation of her is a crime; and the woman should not be excused because of her sickness, and should not be allowed to operate in a manner that is detrimental to her (Gopaul), since it would affect the work she is doing.
Yesterday’s efforts by this publication to contact the imposter were futile.