Bhubaneswar: A Nigerian national operating from Bengaluru, has been arrested in the WhatsApp number hacking of Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) CEO Manoj Kumar Patnaik. Crime Branch Additional Director General of Police Sanjeeb Panda told the media on Wednesday.
Panda further said that he is an associate of Chimelum Emmanuel Aniwetalu (33) alias Maurice Degri, a Nigerian national, who was arrested in Delhi for a similar cyber fraud on November 1. “His associate is also on Delhi Police ‘Most Wanted’ list. Odisha Police is in contact with their Delhi and Bangalore counterparts to trace and nab the accused,” he said.
By sending malicious links, these fraudsters drudge the victim’s Whatsapp numbers and seek financial help from people on the contact list. This was their modus operandi said Sanjeeb Panda. So he urged people not to click on any malicious links and enable the two-step authentication in WhatsApp. Notably, the fraudster had allegedly hacked Patnaik’s WhatsApp number and later duped five persons in OCAC CEO’s contacts of Rs 7 lakh.
The OCAC CEO got a whiff of it when he received calls from his friends and colleagues, asking about his health conditions. They had received a distress message from his number, seeking financial help for ‘medical emergency’. He lodged a complaint with Saheed Nagar police in this regard, the following day.
