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Simona Halep (who is also Romanian and currently ranked #2 in women's singles) is a superstar on the tennis circuit after having breast reduction surgery to improve her game.

Her battle to the top of the rankings as made Halep incredibly popular in her home country, so on August 8 Victor Ponta tried to take advantage of her success.

Ponta posted a picture of her to his Facebook page and wrote: "Simona Halep has just launched her official Facebook page! I LIKE it, do you?".

Although a picture of Halep was next to the "Like" button, the page actually shared in the sponsored post is Ponta’s.

Romanian Radu Ionescu who spotted the con said: "I couldn't believe it when I ended up liking the PMs page even though I'd not approved it, then I realised what had happened and that by liking the Simona page I'd actually approved his page. What a cheap stunt!"

The con was quickly picked up by the local media, accusing Victor Ponta of using Simona Halep’s image to boost his Facebook popularity.

According to facebrands.ro, a website that monitors the evolution of Facebook pages in Romania, Victor Ponta’s average number of new fans is around 400 a day at the beginning of August.

But on August 8, he gathered 3,000 new likes, about seven and a half times more than the usual.

There was no official comment from Ponta, but his staff later changed the post and actually shared Simona Halep’s page after widespread media criticism of the trick.