Jamtara? Bihar fraudster held for hacking Kannada actor Upendra, wife’s WA accounts; victims tricked into dialing code

BENGALURU: A 30-year-old man from a village in Bihar's Nalanda — an emerging Jamtara with nearly 200 youngsters actively involved in cybercrimes — was recently arrested on charges of hacking WhatsApp accounts of Kannada actor Upendra and actress-wife Priyanka and seeking money from their contacts in the guise of an emergency.A Bengaluru police team camped in Delhi for 15 days before arresting Vikas Kumar on Nov 6. He is said to be part of a syndicate involved in contacting people pretending to represent courier services, hacking their phones and borrowing money from their contacts.

Upendra and wife approached Sadashivanagar police in Bengaluru and lodged a complaint on Sept 15 after they realised that their phones were hacked and the miscreants had managed to fraudulently obtain Rs 1.65 lakh. During interrogation, Vikas confessed he and his associates hacked the phones of Priyanka Upendra, Upendra, and their manager. "We have the names of the associates of the accused, and efforts are on to nab them," a senior officer said.Upendra met police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh Wednesday and thanked him for the action taken against the accused.In September, police said, Priyanka placed an order for a few items for her house through a Dubai-based online platform.

She was expecting the delivery of the items. Around 10am, she received a call from an unlisted number. The caller introduced himself as an executive of the online platform and told her their delivery partners were unable to deliver her order as they could not trace her address.The caller said he would send her a code to type and dial. The delivery boy would contact her, and the item would be delivered at the earliest. She followed the instructions of the fraudster.

She put the code *21*9279295167# and dialled, and her iPhone was hacked.She thought her phone was hanging and immediately took her husband's phone, punched in the same code, and dialled. His phone, too, got hacked. She then took her manager Mahadeva's phone and dialled the code in a bid to not miss the delivery. His phone, too, got hacked. All three phone calls were forwarded to the fraudster's number.They also installed WhatsApp on their numbers and started sending messages to the contacts of the couple and their manager. "Hi, needed some help pls." Once the target replied, the fraudster sent, "There will be 55k in your account now? I will return in just 2 hrs. My UPI is not working properly. It's very urgent now." The couple's son and his friends were among those who transferred money to the fraudsters' accounts.