The e-mail ID and Facebook account of Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law, Nikhil Nanda, was hacked by some unidentified persons and a message asking for money was sent to all his contacts.
The complaint was made by the IT head of Nanda, Vipin Kumar and a case was registered under Sections 66, 67 IT Act and 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Economic Offences Wing (EOW). Preliminary investigation revealed that after hacking the Facebook account of Nanda, the hackers sent objectionable photographs and messages to all his contacts.
“This appears to be the handiwork of Nigerians, who have been employing this modus operandi to hack e-mail accounts of rich people and send mails to their contacts asking for money citing duress and other difficulties,” a police officer said on Thursday.
A senior police officer said that Nanda’s e-mail account was hacked on July 21 and his Facebook account was hacked on July 24. “The complainant told the police that after hacking the email account, the hackers had sent an email from his account to all the contacts saying, “Currently, I am in Manchester and my niece is in the hospital. I am in need of money. Please send me money through Western Union money transfer urgently,” the officer added. The e-mail further said Nanda would return the money once he returns to India.
After receiving the e-mail, some of Nanda’s friends even sent money to the fake account, whose address was listed as ‘Will Abraham Road, Manchester’. The incident came to light when after sending the money, Nanda’s acquaintances called him and asked about the matter. Investigators are trying to identify the IP address of the device that was used to hack Nanda’s accounts.