Following the hacking of Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) CEO’S WhatsApp account, the Crime Branch (CB), taking suo motu cognisance of the case, on Thursday began a probe into the fraud.
A special CB team reached the OCAC office here for investigation.
Notably, unidentified cybercriminals allegedly hacked the WhatsApp account of the OCAC CEO Manoj Kumar Patnaik, who is also the Additional Secretary of the Electronics and Information Technology Department, and defrauded around Rs 7 lakh from his friends and acquaintances.
The miscreants hacked Pattnaik’s WhatsApp account before sending distress messages to his contacts by impersonating the user.
As many as five contacts, including Pattnaik’s colleagues, claimed to have transferred money to the bank and UPI accounts shared by the fraudster in the distress message. They have lodged an FIR at the Saheed Nagar police Station while Pattnaik said he would also file a complaint with the Commissionerate police soon.
Pattnaik said he had received a call from an unknown number on his WhatsApp on Tuesday afternoon. As the caller did not say anything, he hung up the phone after around 30 seconds.
After some time, Pattnaik received a call from one of his friends who inquired about his health and informed him about the distress message which he had received from Pattnaik’s Whatsapp number seeking urgent financial help for treatment. “On hearing this, I realised someone has hacked my WhatsApp account. I did not click on any unknown link sent to me by anyone,” informed Pattnaik.
Soon afterwards, Pattnaik started receiving phone calls from his well-wishers who showed him the distress message from his WhatsApp number. Some of them even informed that they had transferred money after getting the phishing message.
Following the incident, the Electronics and IT Department has begun sanitising people about WhatsApp phishing.