Jamie Laou: The Australian Justin Bieber?

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With apologizes to The Vampire Diaries, a different kind of doppelganger is wreaking havoc and garnering headlines on the Internet.

Meet Jamie Laou. The 17-year old Australian looks eerily like Justin Bieber and has used this resemblance to make a major name for himself.

In late 2009, Laou kicked off a run of live Webcam performances. Simply based on his appearance, viewers around the world assume he was Bieber. When the Sydney native revealed the truth, many of these fans stuck around.

Laou now has over 50,000 Twitter followers and attracts as many as 7,000 people to his YouTube videos, which he continues to broadcast.

Last week, in fact, Laou challenged Bieber on Twitter, suggesting that the young icon had lost touch with his supporters. Wrote Jamie: “If Justin love his beliebers so much why hasnt he kept posting youtube videos. Since thats why we subscribed him in the first place?”

Bieber replied and the two worked things out over private Tweets. But a rival has clearly emerged to the Biebs. Think Laou has staying power?