Bhubaneswar: Cyber criminal cheats almost Rs 7 lakh from five people after hacking the WhatSApp number of government official Odisha officials and sending messages to close contact which claimed that he needed an urgent financial assistance for treatment.
The fraudist was allegedly hacked the number of Whatsapp Manoj Kumar Pattnaik, Chief Executive Officer from the Odisha computer application center and an additional secretary from the Electronic Department and Information Technology, and demanded money from several contacts by sending depressed messages.
Assuming messages becomes genuine, some contact near Pattnik transferred money to the bank and the upi account shared by fraudsters.
The source said five people were transferred around Rs 7 Lakh to the story of criminals.
“I filed an official complaint with the police on Wednesday.
Some of my contacts, who were victims of phishing, had filed a complaint with the Saheed Nagar police station here,” Pattnik Toi said.
Pattnik said he received a call from an unknown person on the WhatsApp number on Tuesday afternoon.
The caller did not say a word, pushed Pattnik to hang up after about 30 seconds.
“Around 3.20pm, I received a call from my friend, who asked about my health and told me about the message of the difficulty looking for an urgent financial assistance for my treatment sent from my Whatsapp number to his phone.
I realized someone had hacked me whatsapp me , “Pattnik said.
He denied clicking on the evil link sent by the defendant.
Immediately, Pattnetik was flooded with phone calls from near and loved ones.
Some office staff reported to send money to fraudsters.
“I received whatsapp calls and messages that showed Pattnaik’s face, sir,” said a suspected victim.
Contact Odisha Government Officer Falling Prey Phishing on WhatsApp
