Bhubaneswar: The WhatsApp number of Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) CEO Manoj Kumar Patnaik was hacked by a Nigerian national operating from Bengaluru, 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.
Elaborating on the modus operandi of the fraudsters, the senior cop said that they gain control over a WhatsApp account by sending malicious links. “Then they seek financial help from people on the contact list,” he said.
He urged people not to click on 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 his 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.
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