Nigerian held for duping people by hacking their WhatsApp accounts

PTI, Nov 20, 2021, 8:13 PM IST

A Nigerian national allegedly involved in cheating people by hacking their WhatsApp accounts was arrested from Bengaluru, the Delhi Police said on Saturday.

The accused Okwudiri Paschal (40) was arrested while he was withdrawing the cheated amount of Rs 20,000 from an ATM in the Karnataka capital on November 16, they said.

The crime came to the fore when one of the victims registered a complaint at the Tilak Marg Police Station on November 2.

The complainant alleged that he received a message on WhatsApp that the facilities on the virtual platform are being upgraded for which the system was generating a six digit code. He said as soon as he typed his mobile number followed by the 6-digit code provided by an unknown mobile number, his WhatsApp screen became non-functional and the account was hacked, police said.

The hacker then sent messages to the victim’s relatives through the latter’s WhatsApp number and requested to transfer money on different grounds. Account numbers of several banks were provided by the accused to the victim’s kin for transferring money, a senior police officer said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Deepak Yadav said, ”We sent our team to Bengaluru which scrutinised the bank account details provided by the accused and during investigation, it was revealed that the accused persons were luring numerous victims on different grounds and were inducing them to transfer money in bank accounts.” The officer said the accused persons used to change their bank accounts regularly in order to escape police. As soon as a victim transferred the amount in the bank, the money was withdrawn from different ATMs in Banaswadi, Bengaluru.

During investigation, it was revealed that the accused is part of an international cyber fraud racket and has cheated hundreds of victims across India. The accused has been brought to Delhi on transit remand and further investigation is underway, the DCP said.

The police have recovered several ATM cards, mobile phones and SIM cards used in the commission of offence.