Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Cyber criminals have devised a new method to hack mobile phones and WhatsApp accounts. In a fresh incident, scammers hacked the WhatsApp of former director of finance department Nitin Nandgaonkar and sent messages to several of his contacts demanding money urgently.
Shockingly, the phone of Nandgaonkar’s wife was hacked too when he tried to recover his WhatsApp using it.
According to reports, the retired official lives in Arera Colony. On Thursday morning, he received a call from cyber conmen posing as courier company staff who claimed that the delivery boy was unable to locate his address. He then gave Nandgaonkar another mobile number asking him to call the delivery boy. Nandgaonkar called on the number but it did not connect. Soon afterwards, he received an SMS with a ‘special code’ starting with number 21. Believing it to be the other number of the delivery boy, he dialled it from his phone- activating call and SMS forwarding to the fraudster’s number. His WhatsApp was also taken over by the conmen.
In a bid to recover the WhatsApp, he used his wife Neelam’s phone and sent an OTP. However, the OTP was intercepted by the scammers and they hacked her WhatsApp as well.
Soon many of their friends and relatives started receiving WhatsApp messages from Nandgaonkar’s number requesting urgent money transfers. Many of them called him and he clarified he had not sent any such message. However, Nandgaonkar immediately called the cyber helpline and got his bank accounts frozen to prevent any big financial losses.
The couple later reached the Habibganj police station and the cops alerted the Cyber Crime Branch immediately. Cyber experts are restoring both hacked WhatsApp accounts and are also tracing the fraudsters through the mobile numbers used.
Fraud technique used
Cyber criminals call or message victims, instructing them to dial 21.
This code forwards all incoming calls and SMS to the fraudster’s number.
Once they receive the victim’s OTPs, they gain access to WhatsApp and other apps.
How to stay safe
Never dial 21 or similar codes at someone else’s request.
Do not share mobile-number-related information with strangers.
Keep OTPs strictly confidential, regardless of how genuine the request seems.
Immediately inform your bank and the police as it can help freeze the fraudulent transaction immediately.
Student’s phone hacked same way, conman ask for nude pics
A girl student two days back had her WhatsApp hacked after receiving a fake courier-related message. A caller told her a parcel had arrived and sent her a code. The moment she clicked it, her WhatsApp, call-forwarding and messages were taken over.
For nearly two-and-a-half hours, the hacker misused her profile to send obscene messages, ask girls in her contact list for nude photos and attempted money extortion through QR codes. The hacker cut the call when she tried to speak with him.
The student alleged that when she approached the cyber cell, she was told to go to the local police station, which in turn sent her back resulting in no FIR being registered. Her WhatsApp was restored after hours, but by then the hacker had already misled several people.
