A university professor at Dalhousie University is an apparent victim of a YouTube hoax after a video appeared on the popular site depicting the teacher as a pimp.

YouTube has since removed the video from its video-sharing site and Halifax police are looking into the incident.

The video shows photographs of the engineering professor's family. An audio track playing in the background is believed to be from a pornographic movie and words that appear on the screen suggest he "pimps out" his family members.

The montage was posted last week and quickly circulated through email.

Charles Crosby, a spokesperson for the university, said the school got wind of what was happening on Thursday after administrators heard rumours of a video and then received the offending email.

"It wasn't so much what the video showed but the context it was put in," he told CTV.ca in a telephone interview from Halifax. "The images themselves were not salacious. It was the written copy that was placed over them that was suggestive."

Crosby said the words posted on the screen also poked fun at Dr. Abdel Ghaly's religion and ethnic background.

The video was sent out by someone using a fabricated email address containing the professor's name. The school is investigating whether the pictures used were taken off Facebook, a popular social networking site.

Ghaly does not have a Facebook account but his children may, Crosby said.

The professor was "very upset" when he found out about the video, he added.

CTV Atlantic spoke to Ghaly. He didn't want to appear on camera but said he felt the hoax was an act of racism.

The school took immediate action by writing YouTube administrators asking them to investigate the source behind the video.

An email was also sent to students expressing their disgust at the prank.

"I am sending this note to you for several reasons: to voice my personal disgust for this sort of anonymous and hateful attack; to underline that this is not regarded as a prank, but as a vicious assault against which we will take all legal measures possible," wrote Tom Traves, the university's president. "Finally, on behalf of the entire Dalhousie Community, to offer our support to Dr. Ghaly and his family."

Students in the engineering department said they were outraged by the email.

"It's absolutely horrifying. To tell you the truth, it's shocking to think somebody would do that," said engineering student Jocelyn Burke. "It blows my mind to think anybody would deserve such treatment."

Const. Jeff Carr with the Halifax Regional Police said the person behind the video could face a hefty penalty -- up to five years in jail -- if they're ever caught.

"This may be defamatory or libel and that's covered in the criminal code," he said. "It's not something we deal with on a regular basis but something that the Crown would discuss."

However, that could be easier said than done considering police and other groups have had a hard time getting companies like YouTube to reveal the identities of the people who post on their site.

Furthermore, if the video was uploaded from a different country, it would be difficult for Canada to have jurisdiction in the case, according to Michael Deturbide, Dalhousie Law School's associate dean.

"It's a very difficult thing to do," he said.

With a report from CTV Atlantic's Rick Grant