Using one code, how Kannada actor Upendra and his wife's iPhones were hacked
30-year-old Bihar native and his syndicate fraudulently obtained Rs 1.65 lakh from their phone contacts by sending emergency requests for money
A police team from Bengaluru arrested a 30-year-old man from a village in Nalanda, Bihar for hacking the WhatsApp accounts of Kannada actor Upendra and his actress-wife Priyanka, and for fraudulently obtaining money from their contacts on the pretext of an emergency.
The culprit Vikas Kumar is said to be part of a syndicate whose modus operandi is to get in touch with people on their phones pretending to represent courier services. The cyber criminals then hack their phones and send messages to their contacts asking for money.
The police team from Bengaluru camped in Delhi for 15 days and then arrested Vikas Kumar on November 6.
Modus Operandi
The police explained how the crime unfolded.
In September, Priyanka ordered a few products for her house on a Dubai-based online platform.
The day she was expecting delivery of the items, she received a call at around 10 am from an unlisted number. The caller said he was calling from the online platform, and that the courier service could not deliver her products since they could not trace her address.
He said he would send her a code and a number which she needed to type on her phone and dial. The delivery person would then contact her and deliver the items as soon as possible.
She followed his instructions and typed *21*9279295167# and dialled. As soon as she did that, her iPhone was hacked.
Thinking her phone was hanging, she borrowed her husband Upendra’s phone and typed the same code and number and dialled. Upendra’s phone also was hacked.
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Not realising what was happening and desperate not to miss the delivery of her order, she then dialled the same code on her manager Mahadeva’s phone, which was also then hacked.
The three calls from Priyanka were forwarded to the hacker’s number, who started sending WhatsApp messages to the contacts of the couple and their manager.
“Hi, need some help pls.”
When they got a response, the hacker replied, “There will be 55k in your account now? I will return in just 2 hours. My UPI is not working properly. It’s very urgent now.”
Among those who were deceived and transferred money to the hackers’ accounts were the son of the actor-couple and his friends.
Couple lodge complaint with police
Upendra and his wife lodged a complaint at the Sadashivanagar police station in Bengaluru alleging that their phones were hacked and the hackers had obtained Rs 1.65 lakh from their contacts through false pretences.
Vikas Kumar, while being interrogated after his arrest, admitted that he and his associates had hacked the phones of Upendra, his wife Priyanka, and their manager.
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Upendra met the police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh on Wednesday (November 12) and thanked him for catching the culprit.
The police said they have the names of Vikas’s associates, and that they are making all efforts to apprehend them.