Delhi Police bust gang of cyber hackers, arrest three

Police arrested three members of the gang, including a “highly proficient hacker”, after a woman filed a case on December 25 alleging that her Instagram ID was hacked

The newly created cyber cell police station of the southwest district on Friday said they busted a module of cyber hackers who hacked dozens of social media accounts and duped the users’ friends and family members financially.

The DCP said the woman complained that the hacker changed the email ID and mobile number registered to her account. After gaining access to her account, the hacker sent requests for money to her social media friends and one of them transferred ₹7,000 to him (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Police arrested three members of the gang, including a “highly proficient hacker”, after a woman filed a case on December 25 alleging that her Instagram ID was hacked. She complained that hackers sent a phishing link from her account and duped her friend of ₹7,000.

“Three mobile phones, one tablet, one Wi-Fi router, five SIM cards, one ATM card and three Aadhaar cards used in the cyber crimes were recovered from the arrested men, identified as Abhishek alias Ravan, who is the mastermind, Deepak Panchal and Sumit Panwar. Abhishek has hacked dozens of Instagram accounts and defrauded people of lakhs of rupees,” said deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Gaurav Sharma.

The DCP said the woman complained that the hacker changed the email ID and mobile number registered to her account. After gaining access to her account, the hacker sent requests for money to her social media friends and one of them transferred ₹7,000 to him.

Accordingly, a case was registered and investigation was taken up by the district’s cyber cell police station.

The team collected details from the service providers and analysed information about the account in which the cheated money was transferred. Investigators then identified and arrested the beneficiary account holder named Deepak Panchal, 27. He said he opened the account using a SIM card that he was provided with by his friend Sumit Panwar, 21. Panwar was also arrested and the interrogation of the two led to the arrest of the mastermind, Abhishek, 21, the DCP said.

“Instagram and other social media accounts are vulnerable to phishing. Once the victim starts reacting, his or her credentials become compromised. Two factor authentication is the only safeguard,” added the DCP.