Hilary Duff's representative threatens legal recourse over fake nudes

Hilary Duff's representative is threatening legal action over the publication of risque photos purportedly showing the singer/actress nude, because the star is not the woman in the pictures.

The So Yesterday hitmaker's name was included in a list of female celebrities who had allegedly had their privacy invaded following the headline-grabbing leak of naked pictures of actress Jennifer Lawrence and model Kate Upton last weekend (04Sep14).

The haul of celebrity nudes originated on website 4Chan.org after a hacker reportedly lifted them from the stars' Apple iCloud storage accounts, and on Friday (05Sep14), a new batch of explicit images, said to be of Duff, surfaced online.

However, the 26 year old's spokesperson has moved swiftly to shut down the reports, insisting the female featured in the naked neck-down snaps cannot be Duff because she does not have any of the star's "defining birthmarks or tattoos", including an inking of an anchor on the inside of her left ankle.

Her rep reveals they have contacted the FBI to alert them to the fake shots and will be taking "legal recourse" if anyone tries to pass them off as real.

Pop star Ariana Grande and actress Yvonne Strahovski have also been quick to deny they are the women featured in saucy images posted online last Sunday, while publicists for Lawrence and Upton have confirmed the authenticity of their shots and have turned to the FBI for help in tracking down the cyber criminals responsible.