The Crime Branch of the Odisha Police which is investigating into the hacking of Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) CEO Manoj Kumar Pattnaik’s WahtsApp number has found a Bengaluru link in the incident.
The scamsters hacked the WhatsApp number from Bengaluru. The probe team would soon leave for Bengaluru for further investigation, said Crime Branch ADG Sanjeev Panda on Saturday.
The amount swindled by the hackers by sending distressed messages to people in contact list of OCAC CEO was credited to three bank accounts. Steps have been taken to freeze those bank accounts, Panda said.
The fraudsters had hacked the WhatsApp number of OCAC CEO Patnaik, who is also the Additional Secretary of Electronics and Information Technology (E&IT) Department and duped Rs 7 lakh from five people in his contact list.
Patnaik realised that his phone was hacked when he received phone calls from his friends and colleagues inquiring about his health condition.
Reports said that posing as Patnaik, hackers had asked for money from people in Patnaik’s contact list citing ‘medical emergency’.
Later, the victims lodged complaints with the Saheed Nagar police on Thursday. Taking suo motto cognisance of allegations, the Crime Branch filed a case and launched investigation to trace the cyber criminals.